Cette page en français
This article was published in the daily newspaper Arizona Republic on May 13, 2004, and in quite similar form in many other newspapers.
Comments in [brackets] are mine.
My information on the mentioned incident is here.
Associated Press
May. 13, 2004 02:30 PM
MEXICO CITY - A series of brightly lit, rapidly moving objects filmed in the skies over Mexico [Webmaster note: nobody should claim the phenomena was brightly lit objects. They were radar echoes and round manoeuvering heat sources] could have been caused by a scientific phenomenon involving gases in the atmosphere, a scientist said Thursday.
Visible only with infrared equipment [Webmaster's note: this is false. Also detected on the onboard radar set], the hauntingly fast-moving lights were captured by air force cameras [Webmaster's note: this is incorrect. One FLIR camera only, not cameras.] on March 5 but only made public this week, sparking rampant speculation they were flying saucers [Webmaster's note: this is incorrect. It is not because it has only made public this week that there is speculation, and speculation was not rampant, it was overt, particularly by dismissing scientists].
But Julio Herrera, a nuclear science researcher at the National Autonomous University, said the bright blurs could have been caused by electrical flashes emitted spontaneously by the atmosphere [Webmaster's note: this is nonsensical. National Weather has informed that the phenomena could not be lightning or plasma, and they provided the weather data].
"They are very strange phenomenon and there is little information about them," Herrera said of the atmospheric flashes in a phone interview [Webmaster's note: this is false. There is enough information on it since long anough to make it clear that plasma do not pace, manoeuver and circle airplanes, and are not invisible]. "That's what's so interesting."
He said more data than is available on the videotape would be necessary to determine if that hypothesis was correct, including precise information on atmospheric conditions at the time the lights appeared [Webmaster's note: there is more data than on the TV videotape extracts Mr Herrera had seen at that time, which is held available to scientists at the Mexican Ministry of Defense.].
The Campeche coast on the Gulf of Mexico, where the objects were filmed, is Mexico's main oil and gas producing region and oil platforms there release or burn off some of the gas they produce.
The objects were recorded flying at more than 3,500 meters (11,480 feet) over southern Campeche state using a video camera equipped with an infrared lens. Infrared equipment can only detect heat emanating from objects; it is unable to provide an image of the objects' exact form [Webmaster's note: this is false. FLIR shows structure of airplane, helicopters, cars, boats and even people, unless they are extremely far away. In that case they appear very tiny and undistinguisheable on the FLIR, not as large well-defined formations of rounds.].
"As far as public opinion goes, it's much more interesting to believe in fantasy and for us it's the opposite," Herrera said [Webmaster's note: this is attack on intent], adding that he and other scientists are working [Webmaster's note: that is good news. Will we see any result of this work?] to "try and determine a rational explanation for all this." [Webmaster's note: Mr. Herrera says it's hot gasses and plasma already. This so-called rational explanation has been broadcast worlwide already and many media have accepted it as the final explanation. No other study has been issued by Mr. Herrera so far as of May 31, 2004. Mr. Herrera prematurely offered two incorrect explanations and did not even choose between one of them yet.]
In the videotape, first aired publicly on national television Monday night, the objects appear to accelerate rapidly and change course suddenly [Webmaster's note: this is one of many indication that the phenomenon is not hot gasses from oil wells nor ball lightning.]. At least one crew member testified that the objects surrounded the air force jet when they were at least three kilometers (two miles) away.
The pilots sighted the objects as they conducted a routine drug-surveillance mission [Webmaster's note: they did not see the objects. They recorded the phenomena on FLIR and detected radar echoes.]
Defense Secretary Ricardo Vega Garcia has said the military has yet to conclude what its pilots captured on tape. [Webmaster's note: General Vega Garcia must be thanked for transparency and for asking researchers to search the explanation.]
Vega Garcia gave the tape to UFO specialist Jaime Maussan, who has spent 10 years studying unidentified flying objects. Maussan immediately concluded the video was evidence of the existence of UFOs. [Webmaster's note: this was possibly premature. But Jaime Maussan must be thanked for alerting researchers, not criticized. The tape is indeed proof of the existence of UFOs; what remains to be found is the identification of these particular UFOs.]
"This is historic news," he told reporters Tuesday. "Hundreds of videos (of UFOs) exist, but none had the backing of the armed forces of any country [Webmaster's note: this is false. It is rare, but it happened several times]. ... The armed forces don't perpetuate frauds."
