What is in a name?
UFO is an acronym for Unidentified Flying Objects. We should credit and certainly not thank Major Edward Ruppelt for this term. In his book �The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects� we find him saying, �UFO is an official term that I created to replace the word flying saucers.� This author personally believes that he should have left the naming to field naturalists than create a term that is contradictory.

The first term �unidentified� is the most critical term in the acronym. This term might have been appropriate at the early ages of the phenomenon. These object are no longer unidentified. After years of research we know exactly what they are, although we might not be able to explain their characteristics using known physics, aerodynamics or chemistry.

While the second term �Flying� is also misleading. In flying, we assume that the UFOs uses it�s medium like planes and birds. Birds and plane uses the air as their medium. Without the process of air convection, the bird would not be able to soar in the air and planes would not be able to get off the ground. It is the thrust created by the movement of air that lift the birds and planes. Without this precious medium, air, both the birds and planes would be not be able to fly.

Although even this last term could have been named properly. The fact that Object indicates that this is solid and not a natural phenomenon is sufficient.

This author and other like me, Paul R. Hill and Coral Lorenzen, suggest a better term. I do not propose to change this acronym but rather change the first term from �Unidentified� to �Unconventional�. These objects are identified and yet they are not typical conventional flying objects. In my book and in the rest of this webpage UFOs are referred to as Unconventional Flying Objects.

Yet these were not always called UFOs. Major Edward Ruppelt�s book did not appear till the middle of 1950s. UFO sightings had been reported through out history. But each generation and period in history had a different name for them. The UFO prophet Elijah and Ezekiel saw was described as �chariot of fire�. Meanwhile the objects Roman army spotted as they crossed the desert into China was described as a �flying shield�. Egyptian sightings described the UFO as a �huge fiery sun�.

During the medieval Europe a few of the sightings were described by their shape but most were described as beasts, dragon and such other mythical animals. Again this is attributed to the culture of that time.

Since the beginning of time man have always dreamed of flight. Then in the late 1800s man took to air in its first successful attempt to flying in hot air balloons. During the great �airship� flap of the 1897, many in America reported seeing mysteries airship. There are even cases of the occupants of these ships interacting with human. It isn�t that hard to explain most of the cases. Yet it is important to mention that the first dirigible to fly in USA was built by Thomas Baldwin in 1904.

Then during the big war, American pilots called the fiery UFOs they encounter, �foo fighters�. �Foo�, is a French word used in describing fire. Another word, �foo fighters� can be translated as �fire fighters� Again this name describe the nature and the physical description of the object. Then in 1947 Kenneth Arnold called them �flying saucers� after the historic sightings. On June 24th 1947 a businessman from Boise, Idaho was flying across the Cascade Mountains in Washington when he spotted seven bright objects flying in formation. When he was asked by reporters to describe them, Kenneth Arnold explained that they flew like saucers skipping across the sky. And that was how the term �flying saucers� originated.

What is evident from this history of the nomenclature is the attribution of these to the predominant culture and events during that time. This can be clearly seen by how Ezekiel described the UFO in terms of what was dominant at that time, religion. His association of the UFO with GOD and religion is similar to the Roman�s description. To the Roman soldiers what was common to them was their shield, an important weapon used during battle.
Then how do you explain the name used during the late 1800? During this period in history we were developing a more technologically advanced culture. In this quest, the airship was one of the first successful flying machine built. It is my pinion that if Kenneth Arnold wasn�t familiar with �saucers� he would have used different object as his comparison. This trend is again evident among some of the non-scientific UFO enthusiasts. Like the biblical prophets they believe that these UFO sightings are signs from GOD to warn us of the coming judgment day or to give us ample warning so that we would have enough time to change our ways and repent. My study indicates that most these warnings and massages come from UFO contactees. And closer examination of these indicates that most of them are either religious fanatics or have an ulterior motive.

Study of a phenomenon
This phenomenon of UFOs was not studied formally, seriously or scientifically till the middle of the 20th century. This formal study of UFOs by the United States Air Force coincided with first UFO flap in 1947.

Kenneth Arnold sighting and the Roswell crash coincided with the peak of the 1947 UFO flap and the death of Captain Mandell in 1948. By the summer of 1947 paper were filled with UFO reports that the United States government was force to react. With these UFOs popping in and out of US air space, the military realized that these posed a seriously threat to our national security. With only two years after World War II the popular theory in the US was that these were some kind of advanced Soviet aircrafts that they stole from the old German war machine. As I explained earlier foo fighters were thought to be some kind of German secret weapon. And it wasn�t difficult for us to think that somehow the Russians might have stumbled upon this German secret weapon.

The Air Force reacted by setting up project Sign in September of 1947 to study these UFOs. UFO reports were channeled to the Air Technical Intelligence Center (ATIC) at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. As the data piled on top of them, they needed someone with a technical background to sort out astronomically related sightings from others. They turned to the closest astronomer, Prof. J. Allen Hynek, director of the astronomical observatory at Northwestern University.

The United States Air Force is charged with protecting our country from any foreign mechanical devices that fly from jeopardizing our national security. To the Air Force the origin of these objects didn�t matter as long as they pose no threat to the national security. Project Sign was never design to scientifically study these UFOs. As the scientific investigator Hynek entered the project with glee in order to disprove the nonsense that UFOs were extraterrestrial spaceships. He took extreme measures to find astronomical or natural phenomenon to explain these reports. Sometimes his explanations were so critical that the explanation caused more controversy than the report itself.

Yet when Project Sign started there were two factions within the AF intelligence. There were those who took the mounting evidence of "flying saucers" seriously. They were even prepared to accept these UFOs as extraterrestrial in origin. And then there were those who simply rejected the interplanetary theory. These people absolutely refuse to look at the evidence. They regarded these reports as "nonsense". It was obvious that the latter opinion prevailed.

Project Sign turned into Project Grudge on Feb 11th of 1949 and ran till Dec 27th of 1949. It is possible that the extreme negative evaluation of sightings by Hynek might have transferred Project Sign to the negative Project Grudge, which assumes the philosophy that "UFOs simply could not be". This could clearly be seen when Hynek explained the March and April 1967 Michigan sightings as �marsh gas�. For his trouble Hynek was dubbed �Dr. Swamp Gas�.

Late Dr. James McDonald, atmospheric physicist at the University of Arizona accused Hynek of covering up data. He regarded Hynek as derelict in his scientific duties for not claiming the UFO phenomenon as a serious problem. But in defense of Hynek I must add that such actions would have been futile. Even if Hynek had suggested an ET hypothesis instead of a normal one, no matter how absurd, the AF would have simply dismissed him and replaced him with someone else.

Finally on 27th of Dec 1949 the AF announced the termination of Project Grudge and a few days later released "the Grudge report" or "Unidentified Flying Objects - project Grudge" technical report No. 102-AC-49-/15-100. It reported that these UFOs pose no threat to the defense of our national security and suggested that the scope of the project be reduced.

Although project Grudge was officially closed numerous number of UFO sightings were reported through out the country each year and many of these witness continued to call the ATIC headquarters to report them. By now many independent investigators have joined the bandwagon to study these mysterious UFO sightings. One such individual was Major Donald E. Keyhoe who accused the government of covering up information. In his book �Aliens from space� he gave accounts of incidents where these UFOs have done maliciously harm to humans. Due to researcher like these the tide was changing about the opinion of UFOs and most people looked towards the government to do something. In the summer of 1951 project Blue Book was reopened. By now Project Blue Book was no longer interested in solving the UFO phenomenon since the �Grudge report� pointed out that they were not a threat to our national security. The AF and the project Blue Book weren�t interested in the extraterrestrial hypothesis. The AF theorem was �it can�t be, therefore it isn�t�. Blue Book paid lip service to the public and did every thing possible to discredit the sightings and the witnesses. The Blue Book investigators never actually went on location to investigate most of the sightings and on few times which they did they were grossly incompetent.

With a steady influx of UFO sightings, the CIA was fearful of a threat to the national security. They were not worried about the sightings themselves but the reports coming into AF. On January 14th of 1953 CIA requested Dr. H. P. Robertson to diffuse an explosive situation. Robertson Panel included Dr. Luis Alvarez, Dr. Lloyd Berkner, Dr. S. A. Goudsmit, and Dr. Thorton Page. The Panel studied only five cases in details and pronounced that the scientific community should not waste time studying this phenomenon. Robertson Panel reported directly to the CIA and then CIA ordered the Blue Book Project to debunk any and all UFO reports.

The low level of priority of project Blue Book can clearly be seen from the frequency of turnover of the directors of the project. Low priority is also evident in the rank of these directors.

Time Period	Blue Book Directors
Mar 1952-Feb 1953	Capt. E. J. Ruppelt
Feb 1953-Jul 1953	1st Lt. Bob Olson
Jul 1953-May 1954	Capt. E. J. Ruppelt
Mar 1954-Apr 1956	Capt. Charles Hardin
Apr 1956-Oct 1958	Capt. George T. Gregory
Oct 1958-Jan 1963	Maj.(later Lt. Col.) Robert Friend
Jan 1963-Dec 1969	Maj. (later Lt. Col.) Hector Quintanilla

Everyone in the field of UFOlogy knew that the project Blue Book paid only lip service and that they had no real interest in solving one of the 20th century's greatest mysteries. For a long time the AF had been looking for a graceful way out of the Project Blue Book.

Ironically the demise of the Project came about from a suggestion Hynek made to improve procedures for studying UFOs. On September 28th of 1965 he wrote a letter to Maj. Gen. LeBailly, military director of the Scientific Advisory Board of the AF, stating that several independent universities study the phenomenon to "determine whether UFO phenomenon was worthy of scientific study" and advice Project Blue Book on studying the phenomenon correctly.

The AF saw an opportunity to get rid of the Project Blue Book off their back. University of Colorado under Dr.Edward U. Condon, a member of the physics department, was given the job. Condon committee existed from October 1966 to November 1968. The final report was called "the scientific study of unidentified flying objects" or more generally known as "Condon report." The extreme negative conclusion was all Pentagon and the AF needed to shut down the project Blue Book.

Since the end of the project Blue Book many independent scientists and researchers have dedicated their lives to the study of the UFO phenomenon. These included individuals such as reformed Dr. J. Allen Hynek, Charles Berlitz, Frank Endwards, Maj. Donald E. Keyhoe, Brad Steiger, William L. Moore and Stan Friedman. Some of these individuals even set up different organization that are dedicated to the study of UFOs. These include groups such as APRO, NICAP, MUFON and Center for UFO studies. After project Blue Book was terminated Dr. Hynek kept studying UFOs. He was impressed by the small percentage of UFO sightings that he could not explain. Dr. Hynek set up �Center for UFO study� in Evanston, IL to formally study these UFOs. Till his death he was director of the center.

Then during the 1980s journalist by the name of Howard Blum published his controversial book titles, "Out There." In his book he indicated that he had found evidence of a high level military group dedicated to studying UFOs and the extraterrestrial hypothesis. This group is headed by Col. Phillip and is called "UFO working group."

Still I have uncovered evidence indicate that organizations such as NASA and AMES have projects and groups specializing in the study of extraterrestrial and UFOs. These include the real reason for the Galileo telescope, loss of clementine and two Mar probes. These are discussed in detail in my book.

UFOlogy
Regardless of Dr. Hynek�s attitude towards UFOs during his association with the project Blue Book, he is regarded today as the farther of UFOlogy, the study of the UFO phenomenon. One of the most important concepts that J. Allen Hynek put forward is a method for categorizing each sighting. In his study he found it easy and logical to categorize each sighting by the proximity of each sighting to the observer. Although distance is the most underlying factor, each category has unique characteristics.

In his book �UFO experience� Dr. J. Allen Hynek suggested six categories. Although most researchers have kept these six categories closely, in my I propose book a few minor changes and additions.

Night Lights (NL)
These are sightings in which the observer notes a bright and unusual light in the sky. Most of these lights are far away to distinguish any characteristics of the object such as distinct outline, texture, color and etc.

In almost all these cases the sightings are either identified or not identified due to insufficient data. Close to half the total UFO sightings are of this type.

Daylight Disc (DD)
Unlike in the previous case, these sightings are observed during the daytime. The object is clearly visible as disc shape object and hence the name. The object features, outline and characteristics are clearly visible. These sightings provide better data t study and yet harder to explain.

Description �daylight disc� may not be appropriate since today there are various shaped UFOs sighted. But I do not propose to change since more than 82% of sightings are either disc or oval shaped.

Radar Visual (RV)
In these cases the object is painted on the radar screen as well as sighted visually. Hynek dismissed cases where the UFO is sighted through radar only. His reasoning was simple. There are times when radar will pick up temperature inversion, flocks of bird and unusual cloud formations and other natural phenomenon. But today our sophisticated technologically advanced systems are capable of filtering these noises and painting only those solid objects. Therefore I have decided to include radar sightings that are not visually accompanied.

Close Encounter of the 1st Kind (CEI)
The proximity of the UFO to the observer is less than 100 feet. The observer is able to clearly see details of the object and it�s texture. Frequently the object is in direct path of the observer or in collision course. In these cases UFOs have no direct effect on the observer or on the environment.

Close Encounter of the 2nd Kind (CEII)
In these cases the UFO has direct physical effect on animate and/or inanimate objects. The UFOs leaves physical evidence such as ground marks, burns, radiation residuals; and cause electromagnetic effects on radios, car lights and engines. They also create effects on animals and humans. For example the frightened behavior of animals during a UFO sighting is frequently reported. There are times when close encounters with UFOs also create hypnotic effect on the observer.

Close Encounter of the 3rd Kind (CEIII)
Same characteristics as in the two previous categories with an exception that in CEIII, Aliens, entities, EBEs are seen in or around the UFOs. Many researchers include case where Aliens are seen without accompanying UFOs, but after an extensive study I have decided to exclude these sightings.

Close Encounter of the 4th kind (CEIV)
In this case the witness have intelligent communication with the occupant of the UFO and report abduction. In most cases they also report physical examination of the witness and sometimes EBEs conduct genetic experiments.

Dr. Hynek rejected these sightings because he did not believe that "sensible, rational and reputable people" ever made them. Yet these sightings have increased so much that we are forced to include and study them.

Although I personally believe that these abduction cases does not belong in the science UFOs. They do not provide evidence that we can collaborate independently. We have to rely on the information given to us from these abductees either through post hypnotic regression or by other unscientific ways. There are times these abduction doesn't even accompany a UFO sighting. I believe only those few cases where the abduction is accompanied by a prior sighting a UFO should be considered in UFOlogy.

In almost all of these abduction cases their captor gives the abductees a message. Every message conveys a dire consequence for the well being of our race and Earth if our ways are not remedied.

This category provides us with information outside of science and thus dismissed by some researcher including myself. The interpretation and solution to these should be left up to the philosophers and new age scientists.

Close Encounter of the 5th kind (CEV)
In this case witness has continuous contact with these EBEs for a long period of time. Most cases in this category have characteristic of the previous four types. Although I have included these sightings in my database for statistical purpose only. I can not explain or have logical explanation for these cases and again I leave these up to the new age scientist.

Characteristics of UFOs
Now that we have classified each sighting according to their characteristics, we must take a closer look at the UFO. I my study I have design and wrote a software analytical database using MS VB and Oracle. This allows me to analyze these sighting using different variables.

Shapes
One of the strong arguments for UFO is their shape. Through out my study I found a number of shapes that is consistent through out the world on different UFO sightings. If UFOs are not ETVs you would find various different shapes. Yet you find a few consistent shapes.

[diagram of UFO shapes]
Color
Studying their colors, two trends emerge from my database. First almost all UFOs sighted during the daylight time are either silver colored, gray or metallic in nature. While all NL sightings indicate different color; but the most predominant colors are blue, red, yellow and green.

Explanation to this may be a simple one. Paul R. Hill, John Lear, Lazio and other (including this author) have put forward various theories regarding UFOs propulsion system using an electromagnetic force generated by the craft.

Using fundamental physic the force needed can easily be calculated, and the values are staggering. But if the UFOs are generating such an electromagnetic force it would only be seen at night. These are actually the glow of the force surrounding the UFO. While the real colors of UFOs can be seen at night. Modern physics have demonstrated that object generating a electromagnetic flux glows green in color.

Witness also report change in these colors as the craft accelerate or de-accelerate. This also explain by easily by properties of electromagnetic forces and the Doppler shift.

Maneuvers
These motions are self-explanatory.
1. Hovering
2. Falling leaf
3. Silver Dollar wobble
4. Acute-angle turn
5. Sudden reversal of direction
6. Bank and turn
7. Straight away speed
8. Tilt to maneuver

Sound
More than 94% of UFO sighting report no sound. Yet when sounds are report they are usually hum, buzz, whine or the slight swish-of-air sound.

Solidity and Weight
Without going into mathematics of the problem (as I have done in my book) it can be shown that using measurement taken at lading sights UFOs are solid objects with extreme high weight.

Size
Saucers, sphere and other spherical UFOs range anywhere from 1 to 30 feet. While Cylindrical or cigar shaped UFOs can be from 100 to 200 feet in seize.

Conclusion
Regardless of what most conservative scientists believe the UFO phenomenon is a modern day mystery that we need to study scientifically using scientifically sound methods. The first part of that, outlining the problem, structuring and gathering data, has already being completed. From the data we gather it is now our responsible for interpreting this data within the boundaries of known science.

We have also managed to explain most of the characteristics of UFOs to fit the laws of physics, chemistry and mathematics.

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