The main page on this case is here; this only eplores one particular aspect of the story. Moreover it is a draft opened to comments at pgrsel@aol.com
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Above: This is one frame of the mexican phenomenon FLIR recording. There are two round spots of heat, with smaller spots of heat underneath. It has been submitted by one noted french skeptic that these two spots may be part of a larger object which would be a conventional aircraft such as a jet or an helicopter, or that each spot may be a jet or an jelicopter. There are obvious reason to discard this, such as the lack of communication response when the C-26 crew tried to contact the phenomena, and such as the fact that these blobs of heat were never seen with the naked eyes of the crew despite their getting nearer enough to see the phenomena with their naked eyes. |
But how would conventional aircraft appear on the FLIR anyway? See underneath: it is a FLIR image of an Apache helicopter. The structure of the helicopter is perfectly visible. If the above two blobs were part of a larger object, wether a jet fighter or a small plane or an helicopter, the structure would be visible in infrared, and of course also with the naked eye (It was plain daylight with perfect visibility). |
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He said:
"It is not possible [that the FLIR gave false information]. This was visual information of a target that had both heat and movement, so it would not make reference to something that was not there."
When asked if the FLIR can record hot air, he said:
"No. FLIR doesn't record hot air, it records an object that generates heat. The FLIR cannot "see" the hot gasses coming out of an engine. It can see the warm hot engine body, however."
When asked if the objects there even though the crew could not see them with the naked ayes, he said:
"They were there, and we have the data references by their positions. They were on our left side, at the same laltitude and the same speed."
When asked if the phenomena looked like any normal aircraft h detected before, he said:
"Yes, it was an irregular [unconventionnal] shape. I know of nothing like the aircraft I saw. I have never experienced anything like this and I don't know what to tell you. I don't have any explanation for what these objects were."
When asked if there were simultaneous radar and FLIR detection, he said:
"Correct. The radar gave us positions and then with the FLIR we searched that area. We located the targets and we kept those targets on screen while the radar was detecting other targets, giving us more positions. We tried to keep all the targets on screen all the time, so as not to lose them."
When asked about distance and size, he said:
"They were big, especially two of them that were closer to us. Can't really say much about size except that if the objects were 2 miles away the infrared light sources couldn't have been larger than the diameter of the bright circular image projected to 2 miles, i.e., they were smaller than about 7 ft."
When asked if the data could have been fabricated or if it could be an artifact, he said:
"No. It is not possible to load information into the FLIR. All the information the FLIR detects is out there and is really happening. And the FLIR records this information in real time."
As part of the investigation, the FLIR representative for Mexico, Mr. Gilberto Rocha, was interviewed by Jaime Maussan regarding the images recorded by the FLIR STAR SAFIRE II aboard the Mexican Air Force Merlin airplane during the March 5, 2004 incident over the Campeche area.
He said:
"These images may have low resolution because of the distance that we are measuring, but represent round-shaped objects that cannot be compared to any known object that we have been looking for in our air space."
At the question: "Could these have been any kind of conventional aircraft?" he answered:
"No, because conventional aircraft have very well defined temperature in their turbines and in front where friction is registered, therefore they could not be seen as rounded lights."
At the question: "Any possibility of the objects being a helicopter?" he answered:
"No, it's the same case: the turbine and blades would be the point of highest temperature defining the shape of the helicopter and it would be always a known shape not a round-shaped object."
When asked "If these objects are not any known aircraft what do you think they are?" he said:
"In the strict sense of the word, avoiding any distortion or confusion, these are objects that fly and we can not identify.""
When asked if the images may be caused by some fault or malfunction of the FLIR, he said:
"Negative, because in the images we are seeing clouds that have a higher temperature than the ambient average temperature, and we can see the cloud silhouettes because the FLIR is detecting their infrared frequency. The objects that we are seeing are the points of higest temperature there. Personally, I have never seen anything like this. My experience with these cameras is completely industrial, we analyse a whole variety of industrial appliances as well as for the electrical industry, but for me the case of the Mexican Air Force is very unusual."
NOTE: The comments and opinions expressed by Mr. Gilberto Rocha of the FLIR cop. above are his own, based on his experience and knowledge of the FLIR STAR SAFIRE II operational functions and do not necessarily represent FLIR Systems, Inc.'s opinion and points of view.
Note: full interview available here
Now let's see another FLIR images:
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Here is an helicopter filmed using FLIR. Notice the dark body
and the rotor blades, perfectly recognizable.
But what if the phenomena were distant planes rather than on of more close helicopters? |
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Here is a jet filmed using FLIR. Notice that the silhouette is perfectly visible, whereas the exhausts do not produce anything like the isolated formation of heat blobs of the mexican phenomenon. |
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Another jet filmed using FLIR, at a different angle.
Notice how the heat blob of the exhaust are tiny, yet the structure is still visible. (And do not forget: the crew knew where they were, they sent there to look at them, and when they know they should have seen them with the naked eye, there was nothing to see.) |
With the mexico phenonema, it is completely different. The two blobs are huge, yet there is absolutely nothing like a structure to them:
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Now, you all have seen many infrared images from the Gulf War press coverage. Remember what you saw? Perfectly identifiable things. Here are some FLIR images of various known objects:
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Can you recognize these? Are these UFOs or planes? No they aren't. You can recognize everything in this FLIR picture. |
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Even on tiny Internet images, details are there.
This FLIR image is of a boat. The boat is monitored by an air force aircraft because it illegally spills oil in the sea. See the waves, the boat, the oil? |
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This picture is actually from the mexican air force, and taken
with the very same Star Saphire II Flir which was used during the incident.
Of course the operator can zoom in and out. But zooming in did not change this suspicious boat into a blob of heat, right? |
Except if the entire story is one big lie, these phenomena can only be un-conventional airplanes. they cannot be smugglers planes or helicopter nor other mexican air force planes of helicopters.
