Official · Document · Department of State
Pilots Spot a Bright, Maneuvering Light Over Kazakhstan
The light circled for about 40 minutes, then vanished. Later, the plane passed beneath the trails it left behind.
In brief
Pilots over Kazakhstan watched a light circle and disappear beyond the horizon. The plane passed beneath the trails it left behind, but it remains unclear what the light was or whether the photographs reached the embassy.
Summary
Unclassified U.S. State Department cable (MRN 94 DUSHANBE 259, DTG 310000Z Jan 94) from AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE to SECSTATE WASHDC, info AMEMBASSY MOSCOW (and Tashkent, Ashgabat, Almaty, Beijing, Bishkek, CIA, DIA), routine precedence, signed ESCUDERO. Reports that on January 27, 1994 Tajik Air's chief pilot, AMCIT Ed Rhodes, and two American pilot colleagues encountered a UFO at 41,000 feet over Kazakhstan (lat 45N, long 55E) while flying a Boeing 747SP. They observed an extremely bright high-altitude object for some forty minutes as it performed circles, corkscrews, and 90-degree turns at high speed and high G-loading; Rhodes photographed it with a pocket Olympus camera and later flew under contrails he estimated at ~100,000 feet. Rhodes opined the object was extraterrestrial and under intelligent control; the embassy reports without endorsement.
Incidents in the document
- 1994-01-27 · Over Kazakhstan, lat 45 N long 55 E, at 41,000 feet · Page 2
Tajik Air Chief Pilot Ed Rhodes and two American pilot colleagues, flying a Boeing 747SP at 41,000 feet, encountered a brightly lit object approaching from the eastern horizon at high speed and much higher altitude. Crew watched it for ~40 minutes as it performed circles, corkscrews, and 90-degree turns at high speed and high Gs. Rhodes took photos with a pocket Olympus camera. Object eventually adopted a horizontal high-speed course and disappeared over the horizon. Some forty-five minutes after the initial sighting, as the sun rose, the aircraft (making over 500 knots) flew under contrails left by the object; Rhodes estimated the contrails at approximately 100,000 feet and noted the contrail paths reflected the object's earlier maneuvers.