Hello and a Happy Easter to you all.
In drafting my cluster of initial posts, I wanted to review the content of the NARCAP web site. NARCAP stands (or at least stood) for the National Aviation Reporting Center [sic] on Anomalous Phenomena.
Set up by Dr. Richard Haines, a retired NASA research scientist, its aim was to allow 'pilots, air traffic controllers, radar operators and other aviation professionals to report, in confidence, an observation or incident involving unidentified aerial phenomena or UAP'. Each report would be rigorously investigated and recorded adding to the body of data about phenomena in the sky that could subsequently be explained and prepared for by aviation professionals. NARCAP's key concern was with finding ways to improve aviation safety, especially in the context of a number of alleged hair-raising 'near-misses' between unidentified aerial phenomena and civilian or military aircraft.
Dr. Haines' background and credentials gave him unprecedented access to and cooperation with official and commercial stakeholders in the aviation community. This access allowed for a large body of solid, reliable data to gathered on UAP incidents. As an intriguing by-product, data was gathered on thousands of cases (over 3000 I read somewhere recently) for which there is - as yet - no conventional explanation, the most famous of which remains the O' Hare International Airport incident.
Rather oddly, the NARCAP site currently appears to be off-line with no apparent explanation. After having carried out an internet trawl, I've yet to see information about the apparent closure of this site. The cached snapshot is supposedly as it appeared on 3 April 2012. I hope this is just down to a technical issue and not anything more ominous or final.
