UFO sightings ‘not necessarily about aliens.’ How a crowdsourcing app is gathering data for air safety.

Justin Marville, Oshkosh Northwestern
·3 min read

OSHKOSH – The truth is out there.

Maybe they’re just satellites. It could be foreign surveillance. Or something even better yet!

One entity is trying to uncover that truth by encouraging pilots, members of the aviation community and just about anyone to report mysterious sightings they simply can’t explain.

Enigma Labs has created an app allowing users to post their Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) sightings in an effort to collect data, identify mysterious phenomena and eliminate the stigma of reporting UFO sightings.

Consultant Alejandro Rojas stressed the importance of removing that stigma for pilots as part of a presentation series at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh July 23.

“I think the purpose is to inform pilots because the FAA right now isn’t doing a good job informing pilots what to do if they see a UAP, and anything unidentified in commercial or military airspace can be dangerous,” Rojas said.

“So, what we’re trying to do is tell them, 'Hey, there is somebody out there collecting that data, so send it to us.'”

Everything to know about AirVenture: From admission to air show schedules and more

How to report a UFO or UAP sighting and how the data will be used.

An example of a map documenting reported UFO or UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) sightings on Enigma Labs’ app.
An example of a map documenting reported UFO or UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) sightings on Enigma Labs’ app.

Users can report sightings on the free app, which records a number of different fields including time, place, shape and size of the object, and even the number of witnesses reporting the incident.

The data collected from these reports allows Enigma, in many cases, to identify the previously mysterious objects as rockets, balloons or one of the 4,000 Starlink SpaceX satellites.

“That data, as NASA and the Pentagon have highlighted, is really important to collect to be able to figure out the mystery,” Rojas said.

“What we’re doing then is we also have this big network where we have researchers and scientists who can then take that data and do research with it.

“We’re kind of crowdsourcing the analysis side of it,” he said.

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Not all UFO or UAP sightings have an answer.

Some reports still remain a mystery.

Rojas recounted an event in 2006 when at least 12 United employees, including five pilots, spotted a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over Gate C-17 at Chicago O'Hare International Airport.

The FAA dismissed the sighting as a weather phenomenon, as it did not show up on radar and no air traffic controller saw the object.

“It’s not necessarily about aliens because if we have unidentified craft in commercial or airspace, this is an air safety issue,” Rojas explained.

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AirVenture runs through July 28.

The 71st EAA AirVenture Oshkosh runs daily through July 28 at Wittman Regional Airport, 525 W. 20th Ave., Oshkosh. Daily tickets are $45 for adult members and $63 for adult non-members. Veterans and active military members pay $45 while kids 18 years and younger are admitted free. For more information, go to https://www.eaa.org/airventure.

Contact Justin Marville at jmarville@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: UFO sightings 'not necessarily about aliens'; app gathers data for air safety