- COLUMBUS -- On a clear blue
83 degree summer Sunday, July, 1985, at about 3 PM, I was flying my camouflaged
Grumman Yankee TR-2 (N1650R) from Detroit to Columbus. While under Port
Columbus International airport civilian radar approach control at 15 miles
out and descending through 8,000 feet I was given permission to vector
30 degrees right to investigate what appeared to be a 2nd sun (sphere UFO)
about 2/3 the size of a football field parked on the back side of a large
cumulous cloud at about 4,000 feet and 5 miles NNW of the airport.
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- There was nothing on radar anywhere near that location.
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- Approaching the UFO at 4,000 feet level and 200 yards,
it never lost its brilliance - just like staring into the sun only now
hundreds of times larger than the real sun still clearly visible above.
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- At this point, I was completely overwhelmed with curiosity
as this enormous sphere was still not showing on radar only 5 miles away
and that same radar had never lost contact with my aircraft. As U. S. Navy
trained in radar I knew that this was just not possible.
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- Anything that huge that could create or reflect light
that bright and was that close to the radar should have 'blipped' like
the Graf Zeppelin blimp with a full metal jacket, and yet, I was still
on radar even though this sphere was now directly between me and the radar
- just NOT possible! This means that the sphere did not absorb or reflect
the radar pulses - it was totally transparent to them. This alone should
give us a clue as to what the UFO's physical composition was NOT. Given
that I'm no more or less brave than any other pilot would have been in
this situation, I did have one major 'courage' advantage over most - I
was wearing a parachute. So, with burning curiosity and squinting through
sun glasses, I started a slow left turn into the UFO for a closer look.
It was at this point that I became truly apprehensive (scared out of my
wits to be honest) of what I was about to do.
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- Halfway through the turn all that bright light from the
UFO instantly switched off revealing a huge medium grey sphere made up
of millions of clearly visible perfectly flawless identical pentagon shaped
translucent/opaque crystals about 6 inches long with pointed ends and all
spaced identically about 1 foot apart and NOT moving.
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- Once I saw that the UFO was NOT solid, I made the decision
(with parachute) to penetrate it with my left wing in an attempt to knock
as many crystals off as possible hoping to later find on the ground for
analysis. In a hard right turn the outer third of my left wing sliced through
the UFO's crystals with the sound of an intense hale storm on a tin roof.
The hundreds of contacted crystals broke cleanly over the leading edge
of my wing (strange but no fragments) and I could clearly see that the
severed surfaces were of a light smooth frosty texture.
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- At this time I could see approximately 40 to 50 feet
deep into the crystals (UFO) where it became totally dense and black with
nothing but the crystals. I also noticed that those crystals my wing did
NOT contact were NOT effected by the turbulence of my wing - they never
moved or even quavered - another observation that was "not possible".
The illustration of the crystals below is exactly what I saw on that day.
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- The sound and the drag created by my wings collision
with the crystals was consistent with the solid weight of ice (or the like)
and caused my aircraft to cartwheel which caused a 60 degree CCW roll.
I remember this because I became instantly concerned about gyro damage
and then just as instantly realized how insignificant that was considering
what had just happened. As for investigations, this was on a Sunday and
GATO was closed. The only evidence would be any recordings where radar
approach states that they see nothing on radar (no evidence) and all the
paint and fiberglass missing from the leading edge of my outer port wing
(still no evidence).
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 I examined thoroughly looking for fragments of the UFO's
crystals imbedded in the wing but found nothing. I didn't think until much
later that there might have been microscopic evidence in the fiberglass.
I've been kicking myself for that ever since then. The good news is that
the wing was repaired and repainted so it is possible that microscopic
fragments still exist imbedded underneath the new paint. I recently checked
the "N" number and the plane is still flying and in California.
I'm seriously thinking about buying it back for this reason.
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- Name withheld.
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