On 11 November 2014 a Chilean Navy Airbus Cougar AS-532 helicopter conducting a coastal patrol west of Santiago captured an unclassified airborne object with its WESCAM MX-15 infrared camera. The captain and sensor operator watched the target with the naked eye, judged it to be at a similar altitude and speed, and recorded nine minutes of footage showing two intense thermal sources. 123
Radar stations at Santiago and San Antonio registered no traffic and the object ignored standard radio calls. During the recording the target discharged two large, very hot plumes before vanishing into cloud, leaving investigators to debate its nature for years.4
Personnel
Timeline
Evidence
Asessment
The Chilean Navy FLIR case has generated two main interpretations. The official CEFAA panel initially classified the object as an unidentified aerial phenomenon, citing the lack of radar contact, the apparent emission of thermal plumes, and the object's speed and heading, which seemed to match the helicopter's own. Investigators noted that the crew's visual and sensor observations did not correspond to any known flight plan or radar return, and the dramatic infrared plumes were considered anomalous.
However, independent researchers—most notably Mick West of Metabunk and later Skeptoid—presented a compelling alternative explanation. By analyzing ADS-B flight data, they identified Iberia flight IB6830, an Airbus A340, as a likely match for the object's position, timing, and movement. The four-engine heat signature and the intermittent plumes were consistent with aerodynamic contrails produced by a distant airliner under the observed atmospheric conditions. This hypothesis requires accepting that the helicopter crew may have misjudged the object's distance and size, and that the radar search sector did not cover the airliner's actual location.
The weight of technical evidence now strongly favors the commercial aircraft explanation, with the airliner hypothesis providing a high-likelihood solution. Nonetheless, the case remains notable for the initial official uncertainty and the value of open-source flight data and collaborative analysis in resolving such incidents.