- Testimony In The Congressional Defense Committee
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- Committeeman Jorge Ulloa related part of the eyewitness
accounts received and assured listeners that the phenomenon jeopardizes
the safety of any (civilian commerical) flight.
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- "I haven't taken this as a joke and this is what
makes me give it the level of seriousness it merits," said the congressman
for Talcahuano, Jorge Ulloa, who forms part of the Lower Chamber Defense
Committee and who on Tuesday, along with other delegates, listened to part
of the testimony gathered regarding anomalous aerial phenomena. The session
created great interest, because it was the first time that an official
ageny took time to listen to reports of this kind, experienced by Chileans.
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- The parliamentarian recounted that the session began
with the presentation by a representative from Ovnivisión, an independent
agency devoted to the subject. However, he acknowledged that the matter
acquired a different tone when retired general Hernán Henríquez,
director of the FACH (Chilean Air Force) Aeronautical School and former
air traffic controller Gustavo Rodríguez of the CEFAA (Centro de
Estudios de Fenomenos Aereos Anormales) entered the stage. This is a team
formed only by experts and specialists in the subject, having no budget
whatsoevere and in which all work for love of the subject since 1997.
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- "The general made it clear from the start that he
didn't believe in space aliens, but that he did believe in phenomena having
an explanation, others which are somewhat explainable and others which
are outright inexplicable. After that he left us with a former air traffic
controller who not only said that he believed, but brought with him a recording
made in 1988," explained the parliamentarian.
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- From that moment onward, one could hear a pin drop and
the passing of time was disregarded. The tape contained the dialogue between
a commercial airliner pilot and the control tower of the Tepual Airport
at Puerto Montt. In the recording, the pilot advises the tower that "air
traffic is approaching on a collision course", to which he is told
that while the radars are not picking up any air traffic, the controller
himself can see-from the control tower-- a light approaching the plane.
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- While the conversation increases in intensity and nervousness,
the pilot repeats that he must get out of the collision course, and finally
makes a detour which even keeps him from making a landing. What is interisting
is that the light not only made a sudden course change, but passed alongside
the aircraft and was seen by all passengers.
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- "What concerns me is that Chile lacks an office
earnestly devoted to the subject and that isn't good for a nation that
ranks among the five with the greatest number of sightings," explained
Ulloa. He added that there would be information suggesting that several
air tragedies had been caused by similar situations, which implies a risk
factor for aviation in this country.
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- Therefore, he added, a second session will he held and
scientific explanations will be sought to cover the creation of an agency
designed to safeguarding flights.
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- Translation (c) 2003 Scott Corrales, Institute of Hispanic
Ufology (IHU). Special thanks to Gloria Coluchi.
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