Mining the Transport Canada Incident Reports for UFOs

One of the sources for official Canadian UFO/UAP documents has been the CADORS reports published by Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the FAA in the USA. CADORS are Civilian Aviation Daily Occurrence Reporting System incident reports, which include a broad set of categories ranging from Bird Strikes, Runway Excursions, Medical Emergencies, Security Events, and Crew Incapacitation (don't ask). 

One of the most interesting categories is: Weather balloon, meteor, rocket, CIRVIS/UFO. CIRVIS are Communication Instructions for Reporting Vital Intelligence Sightings, and can refer to UFO sightings. Not UAP, which is the term that UFO fans prefer to use these days, but the former term Unidentified Flying Object, which is actually more accurate in describing things that pilots observe during flight.

In this way, Transport Canada requires pilots to report all observed UFOs to aviation authorities, usually the nearest air traffic control tower. And as noted in previous blog posts here, many such reports have been recorded.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Disclosure.

After it was publicly revealed by media that Transport Canada records UFO sightings, fewer of these incidents were published. It seemed strange, but there was speculation that perhaps pilots were worried about being stigmatized and were choosing not to report seeing UFOs.

Except they still were reporting them. The difference was that Transport Canada was now classifying them as things other than UFOs. I and other researchers found that reported incidents of Laser Interference, where unintelligent civilians shine handheld green lasers at planes and other lights in the sky (often believing them to be UAP), included observations of things that were definitely not lasers. These included sightings of lights apparently flying parallel to aircraft and even fireballs from re-entering space debris.

Several people, including myself, pointed this out to government officials, and the result was surprising: Laser Interference cases suddenly included only reports of lasers shone on aircraft from the ground - as they should have been all along.

Yet we noticed something else: UFO reports almost disappeared entirely. Whereas before the increased public attention there were at least one or two UFO incidents within the CADORS reports every month, suddenly there were practically none.

This is strange because pilots likely continue to observe and report UFOs, although the reports seem to now be filtered and shunted elsewhere. It's also possible that whatever office or desk within Nav Canada (the non governmental agency that makes incident data available) has been dealing with UFO reports is actively discouraging or perhaps even rejecting cases so they don't get classified as formal incidents.

Despite this change in Transport Canada incident reporting, some interesting cases do make it through, although nowhere near to the volume noted in previous years.

Here is a sampling.

Supporting the argument that drones are an increasing problem is CADORS 2023O1827, from July 5, 2023, at 12:07 pm local. On approach to the Toronto airport, a pilot reported actually colliding with a drone!

Next up: one of the few only actual UFO reports that made it through. And it's from Mississippi! On May 29, 2023, the pilot of a Canadian private jet saw something remarkable. It was described as: "...an unidentified object (estimated height six feet with white dome and red device attached under it) visible in the left-hand windshield and estimated at less than half a mile from the plane."

The next incident of concern was a problem affecting the Collision Avoidance Systems of four different aircraft. On June 22, 2023, approximately over Kitchener, Ontario, no less than four different aircraft reported "erroneous targets" on their Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System because of a small private plane in the area. This is a problem because TCAS alerts advise pilots of airborne objects that are too close to their flight paths.

On July 1, 2023 (Canada Day), at 9:14 pm, a helicopter pilot flying near Penticton, British Columbia, filed a "Laser interference" Incident Report. He said that a "flashing blue light source somewhere northeast of the airport, possible laser" while he was flying from the northeast. He noted it was a "Short burst, possibly part of Canada Day celebration, but did not seem directed at aircraft." He was too far away to tell exactly where it was coming from.

Another curious incident occurred on June 12, 2023, at 3:25 pm near Westham Island, BC. A civilian complaint was received because: "A large yellow helicopter overflew a residence from the northwest at approximately 200ft altitude. The helicopter circled back and overflew the house a second time and dropped a burning flare onto the property. The flare set fire to a hedge beside the house. The house resident saw the flare drop and was able to extinguish the fire with a garden hose. The helicopter departed to the northwest."

The follow-up to this was rather odd. After investigation, it was found that: "Contrary to the initial report, the helicopter did not drop a flare. A witness reported seeing a flare being launched, from the ground, in the direction of the helicopter. The Delta Police were contacted and are investigating."

So a witness saw a light fall from the helicopter, but the helicopter pilot reported that someone shot a flare at his aircraft from the ground.

But two things of note here: first, the incident occurred at 3:15 pm, during broad daylight, so how bright could the flare (or whatever it was) have been? Second, this report shows that incidents are in fact investigated, so we can infer that UFO reports might be investigated as well, instead of the common view that UFOs are not bothered with at all.

On June 27, 2023, at 5:27 pm, a pilot flying near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, reported seeing: "a possible drone at ESVOX. Black in colour, with an altitude of approximately 4000ft."

On July 9, 2023, at 11:47 am, a pilot flying near Abbotsford, BC, received a TCAS alert, even though there was: "No reported or observed traffic by air traffic controller (ATC)." How reliable are TCAS systems, anyway?

Next on the list: on July 16, 2023, at 4:27 pm, a bit north of Thurso, Quebec, "A Societe Air France Airbus A330-200 (AFR327) from Ottawa/MacDonald-Cartier Int'l, ON (CYOW) to Paris/Charles de Gaulle, France (LFPG) reported a drone encounter at 13 000 feet. Round Drone approximately 1 meter in diameter."

My colleagues who are knowledgeable about drones were very amazed at this report, as very few drones fly that high, and they are unaware of any that are 1-meter spheres!

Not to be outdone, another high-flying drone was reported over the Alouette Hydroelectric Generating Station near Mt. Robie Reid in the interior of British Columbia. This time, on July 16, 2023 at 12:15 pm, two separate aircraft encountered something strange. 

"An Air Canada Airbus A319 (ACA241) from Edmonton Int'l, AB (CYEG) to Vancouver Int'l, BC (CYVR) and a Jazz Bombardier CL-600-2D24 (JZA8271) from Kelowna, BC (CYLW) to Vancouver Int'l, BC (CYVR) reported a drone encounter in the vicinity of STAVE intersection and an altitude of 15 000 feet. Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) advised."

15,000 feet is more than twice the height of the nearby mountain, so at least the UAP/drone had enough clearance.

An Incident Report that shows the dangers of drones for air safety is a case from June 2023 where a MEDEVAC flight almost had to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

But finally, an actual UFO report! It took a few months to make it through NAV CANADA, but on May 31, 2023, at about 9:30 pm, near London, Ontario, "a member of the public at the Elginfield Observatory reported seeing an unidentified flying object (UFO). The UFO appeared to be a string of overlapping semi-transparent spheres travelling south at a high altitude, then ceased being visible in an instant."

There had been a Starlink launch just before that, so it's likely that the case has a simple explanation. However, this Incident was classified not as a UFO, not as Laser interference, and not as an Operational incident. It was a case involving "clear air turbulence!" NOT!

But still, this shows that Transport Canada continues to include UFO (not UAP) reports among its CADORS files.