The Night of UFOs
Date: May 19, 1986
Location: São Paulo, Brazil
With over twenty unidentified flying objects in the sky, the following case is one of the most significant and extraordinary cases to date. Throughout the entire night of May 19, 1986, UFOs were seen in the sky over São Paulo, and fighter jets chased them down. The following day, a press conference was held that was broadcast on television. In it, the Brazilian Air Force fully acknowledged the events and stated that they could not explain what the unidentified objects had been.
The night of May 19, 1986 remains, to this day, a very significant date for UFO researchers. The night of UFOs began to unfold at about 18:30. The control tower staff at São Jose dos Campos airport in São Paulo noticed two bright lights in the sky just above the runway. They estimated the lights to be roughly ten miles away, and the radio control operators were also able to track three unidentified objects on their radar scope. All three unidentified aircraft were in the sky without any preapproved flight plans, which meant that the air force had to intervene.
In an hour, the three objects on radar increased to eight targets, all of which were flying at an incredible speed. It was not until 21:10 that the first visual sighting was made, when Commander Alcir Pereira da Silva was piloting an Embrare Xingu aircraft. For thirty minutes, da Silva reported seeing a “dancing point of light” in the distance.142 The intense light remained in the distance, drifting in the sky. Although its presence was confirmed by the ground radar, the radar operators were unable to explain what the target was, which is why he da Silva decided to pursue the UFO himself. As he got closer to the object, he started noticing that the light was a bright reddish orange light. He was unable to make out whether it had a definite shape or not. As he started flying toward it, the object started disappearing, only to reappear in different locations in the sky.
The encounter was happening just over the airport and da Silva requested permission to land. However, as he started the descent, he noticed that the bright light was straight ahead and flying toward his position. Although the object was moving slowly, da Silva was forced to postpone the landing, and as he did so, the light disappeared out of the sky. Da Silva now had to circle the airport for a few minutes until he was able to land, and on the second attempt the same incident played out. As he started his descent and was approaching the landing strip, the UFO reappeared, the light so bright that it illuminated the entire sky. Once again, he was forced to postpone his landing, however, this time, he decided to attempt and pursue the UFO once again.
The radio control operators were able to track both the Xingu aircraft and the unidentified flying object da Silva was pursuing on radar. Each time da Silva would try and close down on the object, it would simply disappear, only to reappear in a completely different location. It was now 21:30 and the Xingu was running low on fuel. For a third time, da Silva requested to land, and as he started approaching the runway, three bright lights appeared just below his aircraft. Da Silva was now communicating with the air traffic control operators, but luckily enough, the three bright lights made a sharp ninety-degree turn and accelerated toward the mountains of Serra do Mar.
For half an hour, da Silva not only had pursued the three lights, but had also been chased by them. The description and characteristics undoubtedly prove that these objects were extraterrestrial in nature. However, this was only the beginning of the night .
Military Jets Scrambled
Back at the Air Traffic Control Center, the Integrated Air Defense had now gone on full alert, as the eight unidentified targets had saturated their radars, not only causing a disruption to the air traffic, but also causing a potential threat to national security. It was shortly after 22:00 that three F-5E Tiger jets were scrambled from Santa Cruz Air Force Base, as well as three Mirage III jets from Anápolis Air Force Base.
Captain Armindo Viriato, the pilot on board one of the Mirage fighter jets, started tracking an unidentified target on his radar at around 22:55, and although the object was just ten kilometers away, he was unable to make visual contact with it. Viriato was flying well over 850 miles per hour, and yet the unidentified object was still somehow managing to outpace him. On the radar the object was carrying out erratic maneuvers, flying from side-to-side until it disappeared.
On board one of the F-5E fighter jets, Lieutenant Kleber Marinho spotted a bright light outside his cockpit window. The light was so bright that it illuminated the entire night sky, and its colors alternated from red to white to green and back to red. Regardless of how fast he pushed the fighter jet, the bright light managed to maintain its distance, making his attempts at closing down on it futile. It was as though he was chasing a point in infinity. Regardless of how fast he was going, the UFO was infinitely faster.
One of the most interesting and terrifying accounts of the night comes from Captain Marcio Jordão. Jordão reported that as he was flying over São José dos Campos, he started picking up thirteen targets on his radar, just twenty miles ahead. The sky was perfectly clear, and yet he was unable to visually locate any aircraft outside his windows. The objects kept getting closer and closer and the captain recalled the terrifying moment when he noticed that his aircraft was completely surrounded by thirteen targets. On one side there were seven targets and on the other were six. He didn’t know whether these UFOs would shoot down his aircraft or not. He was completely defenseless and helpless.
After a few seconds, the objects made a sudden 180-degree turn, and when Jordão maneuvered his aircraft to continue his pursuit, the objects disappeared off the radar. He estimated the objects to have been flying at least 621 miles per hour when they made the sharp turn and he stated that no aircraft or human can even withstand such a turn. “No plane I know can make turns like that at one thousand kilometers an hour,” recounted Jordão.143
The entire sighting lasted for three hours. The following day, a press conference was issued in which the air minister addressed the situation to the public.
The Press Conference
In the press conference, several witnesses recounted the previous night’s encounter with the unknown. The Minister of Aeronautics Moreira Lima also spoke about the events, stating that the sightings, which many had witnessed, and the objects ,which the pilots pursued, were not a result of a meteorological phenomenon. In the press conference, Lima confessed how the air force did not have any answers to what the UFOs were. “Every time a UFO is detected, obviously there is a very efficient process to verify if it was an airplane flying, and if there was an approved flying plan,” Lima said, “But when it is proved that it is something different, the military aircraft are called in. What happened is that radar detected many UFOs at the area of São Paulo, São José dos Campos and Rio de Janeiro. For many minutes, our craft were followed by these objects. One craft had seven objects by one side and six by the other. Radar is not subject to optical illusions. Radar echoes are due to solid objects, or massive clouds, which were not present that night.” 144
The UFO sightings over São Paulo are one of those few cases where only one explanation makes sense. The turn of events could not have possibly been anything other than an encounter with extraterrestrials. Nothing can account for the capabilities and of the reported UFOs.
What makes this case so pivotal in the study of UFOs is the transparency the Brazilian Air Force adopted. The fact that the authorities stated that they simply could not explain what many had seen, as opposed to saying that the UFOs were either weather balloons or bright stars or planets, is certainly applaudable. Perhaps if every UFO case is treated with such importance and the public was made aware of how serious the phenomenon is, then people would be able to handle the truth and understand what we are sharing our skies with.