DISCLOSURE / FILE
This FBI FD-302 records a March 2024 interview with a former U.S. military pilot who described repeated airborne white-light sightings in 2023 and 2024, plus a silent triangular object over Bagram, Afghanistan, in June 2002.
FBI-UAP-D024, FD-302, “Airborne Lights and Triangle,” 2002, 2023-2024
This FBI FD-302 records a March 2024 interview with a former U.S. military pilot who described repeated airborne white-light sightings in 2023 and 2024, plus a silent triangular object over Bagram, Afghanistan, in June 2002.
The interviewee told FBI agents that pilots began discussing repeated sightings of white lights in the sky starting in October 2023, most often between midnight and 3 AM. He reported seeing the lights about ten times from airline routes over the northeastern U.S, off both coasts, near North Dakota, and toward Gander, Canada, with some lights stationary and others moving in straight lines. He also described a February 2024 phone video taken from a cockpit northwest of Minneapolis and a June 2002 incident at Bagram in which two pilots saw stars blacked out by a large, silent equilateral triangle moving west to east.
It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape.p.3
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- 1 of 3 - FD-302 (Rev. 5-8-10) - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Date ofentry 04 . /2024 in - . , was intervi ewe Agent , s - - - · - was referred to the FBI by ~ After being advised of the identity of the interviewing Agents and the nature of the interview, - provided the following information : - stated that starting in October 2023, a l ot of pilots have been seeing the same event occurring, namely seeing lights in the sky. Pilots have been discussing the events over Pi l ots typical l y saw them between midnight and 3 AM. - did not know if the events occurred at that time because that was when it was dark enough or if it was because that was when the l i ghts were present. - first observation of the lights occurred in October 2023. - was flying from Boston, MA to Dublin, Ireland where he saw the l ights in the northeast towards Gander, Canada. - was at an elevation of 37,000 feet and believed the lights were h i gher than him, probably at 50,000 feet or higher . The lights were white in color, would start out as dim, and get br i ghter before they eventua l ly faded out . The fu l l cycle of the lights would range from 10 seconds to one minute. The l ights looked like airp l ane landing lights, but - knew that it was not them, nor did he think it was - Investigation on by This document contains neither recommendatiollll nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.
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FD-302a (Rev. 5-8-10) ContinuationofFD-302of ■ Interview of - __________ ,On 03 . /2024 ,Page 2 of 3 Starlink, Starlink flares, satell i tes, or meteors. I t ranged between one to four lights at a time in the sky . Some lights did not move , while others moved in straight lines, somet i mes changing direction, and typically did not move in a coordinated fashion. Since spotting the lights the first time, - has seen them approximately ten times . At times the lights would disappear for mi nutes before returning. - has seen the lights for 45 minutes up to two hours . - has seen the lights in all directions except for towards the south. - saw the lights three times in the direction of North Dakota while flying to either Seattle or Phoenix. He has also seen them off the west coast and mid-Atlantic coast. - d i d not know how far away they were but ventured the y were between 200-500 miles away. - never saw the lights below the horizon a nd had not heard about them prior to October 2023 . During a trip on February _ , 2024, - was able to capture video on his Samsung Galaxy S22 phone an event involving white lights. - stated the lights were brighter in-person than on the camera, and the lights were similar in elevation to him or were slightly higher . The video is filmed from the cockpit of his aircraft with the lights turned off . - was located approximately 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota and was flying towards the east. The lights were seen towards the north in the North Dakota region at around 4:36 AM Eastern Standard Time on a clear night . - As captured on the video, white lights were seen , sometimes ten or more present at once, moving around in straight lines a nd getting bri ghter/dimmer. At the 3:27 mark i n the video, - was not sure if two of the lights were really close together or if it was a single light with a tail. At the 3 : 47 mark, - did not know if it was three separate lights . At the 5 :22 mark you can see the flight panel, showing that the airplane was traveling at approximately .80 Mach, and that the airplane was 40 - 50 miles northeast of Sioux Fal l s and coul d see the KFSD airport on the radar. - never felt unsafe from the white lights, and did not believe the lights were within 100 miles of him . A thi rd event that - witnessed occurred back i n June 2002. While as a reservist , - got activated to go to Afghanistan. One -
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FD-302a (Rev. 5-8-10) - ContinuationofFD-302of ■ Inter view of __________ ,On 03 . /2024 ,Page 3 of 3 night he was outside looking at the stars with another pilot. At approximately 4:30 AM local time, - noticed that the stars were getting blacked out over Bagram . It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape. The object was moving silently, at a consistent speed and altitude , possibly 150 knots , with no lights visible. - estimated it was 500 feet in size, but he could not fully see the shape of the object. The other pilot with - also observed the triangle, and when it passed over stated, "did you see that?" - stated he did not further discuss the sighting with anyone else nor did he hear anyone else discussing the sighting . Looking through the data, - never found information that could explain what he saw in Afghan istan in not aware of anything that would explain what he had seen. Overall, - believed that not a lot of discussions were happening openly about the events with the lights . - did not think there was as much st i gma surrounding these events, but people were just not used to talking about it. -
Concatenated page-by-page transcript. Born-digital pages came through pdf.js; scanned pages were transcribed by Claude vision OCR. Pages marked unreadable failed multiple OCR retries (heavy redaction, microfilm artifacts, or blank separators) and are kept in place for audit.
- 1 of 3 - FD-302 (Rev. 5-8-10) - FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION Date ofentry 04 . /2024 in - . , was intervi ewe Agent , s - - - · - was referred to the FBI by ~ After being advised of the identity of the interviewing Agents and the nature of the interview, - provided the following information : - stated that starting in October 2023, a l ot of pilots have been seeing the same event occurring, namely seeing lights in the sky. Pilots have been discussing the events over Pi l ots typical l y saw them between midnight and 3 AM. - did not know if the events occurred at that time because that was when it was dark enough or if it was because that was when the l i ghts were present. - first observation of the lights occurred in October 2023. - was flying from Boston, MA to Dublin, Ireland where he saw the l ights in the northeast towards Gander, Canada. - was at an elevation of 37,000 feet and believed the lights were h i gher than him, probably at 50,000 feet or higher . The lights were white in color, would start out as dim, and get br i ghter before they eventua l ly faded out . The fu l l cycle of the lights would range from 10 seconds to one minute. The l ights looked like airp l ane landing lights, but - knew that it was not them, nor did he think it was - Investigation on by This document contains neither recommendatiollll nor conclusions of the FBI. It is the property of the FBI and is loaned to your agency; it and its contents are not to be distributed outside your agency.
FD-302a (Rev. 5-8-10) ContinuationofFD-302of ■ Interview of - __________ ,On 03 . /2024 ,Page 2 of 3 Starlink, Starlink flares, satell i tes, or meteors. I t ranged between one to four lights at a time in the sky . Some lights did not move , while others moved in straight lines, somet i mes changing direction, and typically did not move in a coordinated fashion. Since spotting the lights the first time, - has seen them approximately ten times . At times the lights would disappear for mi nutes before returning. - has seen the lights for 45 minutes up to two hours . - has seen the lights in all directions except for towards the south. - saw the lights three times in the direction of North Dakota while flying to either Seattle or Phoenix. He has also seen them off the west coast and mid-Atlantic coast. - d i d not know how far away they were but ventured the y were between 200-500 miles away. - never saw the lights below the horizon a nd had not heard about them prior to October 2023 . During a trip on February _ , 2024, - was able to capture video on his Samsung Galaxy S22 phone an event involving white lights. - stated the lights were brighter in-person than on the camera, and the lights were similar in elevation to him or were slightly higher . The video is filmed from the cockpit of his aircraft with the lights turned off . - was located approximately 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, Minnesota and was flying towards the east. The lights were seen towards the north in the North Dakota region at around 4:36 AM Eastern Standard Time on a clear night . - As captured on the video, white lights were seen , sometimes ten or more present at once, moving around in straight lines a nd getting bri ghter/dimmer. At the 3:27 mark i n the video, - was not sure if two of the lights were really close together or if it was a single light with a tail. At the 3 : 47 mark, - did not know if it was three separate lights . At the 5 :22 mark you can see the flight panel, showing that the airplane was traveling at approximately .80 Mach, and that the airplane was 40 - 50 miles northeast of Sioux Fal l s and coul d see the KFSD airport on the radar. - never felt unsafe from the white lights, and did not believe the lights were within 100 miles of him . A thi rd event that - witnessed occurred back i n June 2002. While as a reservist , - got activated to go to Afghanistan. One -
FD-302a (Rev. 5-8-10) - ContinuationofFD-302of ■ Inter view of __________ ,On 03 . /2024 ,Page 3 of 3 night he was outside looking at the stars with another pilot. At approximately 4:30 AM local time, - noticed that the stars were getting blacked out over Bagram . It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape. The object was moving silently, at a consistent speed and altitude , possibly 150 knots , with no lights visible. - estimated it was 500 feet in size, but he could not fully see the shape of the object. The other pilot with - also observed the triangle, and when it passed over stated, "did you see that?" - stated he did not further discuss the sighting with anyone else nor did he hear anyone else discussing the sighting . Looking through the data, - never found information that could explain what he saw in Afghan istan in not aware of anything that would explain what he had seen. Overall, - believed that not a lot of discussions were happening openly about the events with the lights . - did not think there was as much st i gma surrounding these events, but people were just not used to talking about it. -