2004 MEXICO UFO CASE CREW INTERVIEWS

These are transcript excerpts from the interviews with three crew members directly involved in the Mexican Air Force C26A plane incident on March 5, 2004 - conducted by researcher Jaime Maussan as part of the investigation in April 2004.

The crew members are Major Magdaleno Castanon - flight commander & pilot of the aircraft. Lt. German Ramirez Marin - Radar Operator, and Lt. Mario Adrian Velasquez Telles - FLIR Operator.

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Interview with Major Magdaleno Castanon - Pilot.

Question: Major, did you feel worried at any time when you realized you were surrounded by these unknown lights?

Answer: According to the information I heard from the operations co-ordinator chief - he was in charge of the visual operation on the screens - he mentioned that the objects were in the back, on the left side and in front of us. It was at that moment that I began to feel stressed.

Question: But despite that information, none of you could see the objects?

Answer: We never saw them. We couldn't make visual contact with them.

Question: Then, only through the FLIR was it possible to detect the presence of these objects?

Answer: Yes, only with the FLIR system... the infrared camera.

Question: Would you say that the objects were invisible to normal sight?

Answer: I would say so because none of the crew could see them with simple eyesight.

Question: At that distance, where the objects were from you, wouldn't you have been able to see them?

Answer: The closest distance that we had from the objects was 2 miles. Our experience tells us that we can identify conventional aircraft at that distance, so that's the doubt that operation left on us.

Question: When you decided to turn off all your airplane lights, you made that decision to avoid any posible conflict with these strange objects?

Answer: I did that perhaps following an instinct, thinking that maybe it could help in some way. As flight commander, I felt I had to take some kind of meassure because the signal I received was that we were being followed and by turning our light off, I was expecting a similar reaction from them. It was an instinct.

Question: At the beginning of the incident, was it possible these objects became aware that you were following them?

Answer: It's just a guess, but perhaps there was a connection, in that sense, because it is very strange that we first pursued them, but when we cancelled that and made a completely opposite turn te objects then also turned - but in OUR direction and began following us. I think it could be posible that in some way these objects were aware that we had been following and observing them.

Question: What is your conclusion on this experience Major?

Answer: What I can say as commander of a plane on a mission, is that this incident serves as a new precedent of future operations yet to come in our military division.

As a commander, I accomplished my duty in performing a safe operation and maintaining the safety of the personal and the equipment. If a similar incident were to take place in the future and something tragic happens, the fault won't be that of the commander due to a loss of skill or negligence.

Question: Are you concerned that these objects cannot be seen.

Answer: I'm concerned because if a tragic incident happens, I would not have any evidence that could be used as legal defense in a court of law during any resulting trial.

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Interview with Lieutenant German Ramirez Marin. (non-FLIR) radar operator.

Question: When was the first time you became aware of the objects.

Answer: When we made a turn to route ourselves to Campeche, the FLIR infrared camera operator detected a target without a shape, just a shine. The target continued being observed with the FLIR. Then we detected other targets at the left side of the plane. They were eleven targets. We never had visual contact with them.

Question: The eleven targets appeared on the normal (non- infrared) radar?

Answer. No. The eleven targets were not detected on the radar screen. Initially, only one target was detected by the radar. Then another target appeared at one o'clock, that's how we describe the position that is in front but slightly to our right. And then a third one in back of the plane. Those were the only three targets that appeared in the radar screen during the incident. The other ones that were at nine 'o clock, on our left side never appeared on the radar.

Question: There was a time when these objects surrounded you.

Answer: Yes, we can assume that because we had information of a target in the front, another one slightly to the right, one in the back, and according to the FLIR several others on our left side. So, we assumed that we were surrounded.

Question: Did you feel fear?

Answer: Fear...? Yes, personally, there was some fear because we were confronting a situation that had never happened to us before.

Question: The objects movements on the radar were out of the ordinary?

Answer: Certainly. Our data information - most of all, the icons (blips), the clusters - were always there on the screen, but the information on their movements was constantly changing. Their speed changes were sudden, 60 -120- 300 knots, according to the radar information.

The same happened with their flight paths. The courses showed 90 degrees at first then, suddenly, 130 degrees on the radar screen.

Question: What does that mean?

Answer: It means that the target changed direction constantly at great speed. There is no aircraft that can perform such direction changes so quickly.

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Interview with Lieutenant Mario Adrian Velazquez Tellez. FLIR operator.

Question: Is it posible that the FLIR gave false information?

Answer: It is not posible. 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.

Question: Does the FLIR register hot air?

Answer: No. FLIR doesn't register hot air, it registers an object that generates heat.

Question: Then the eleven objects that were detected by the FLIR were generating heat. Were these objects there even though you couldn't see them with your eyes?

Answer: 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.

Question: How much heat were the objects generating?

Answer. We ran several measurements trying to get an image and all the time the targets registered very hot. We never found any irregular shape, they were spherical all the time.

Question: Is this type of shape irregular with respect to other aircraft you have detected before?

Answer: Yes, it was an irregular shape. I know of nothing like the aircraft I saw.

Question: In your experience do you have any previous personal knowledge of any similar incident like this?

Answer: 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.

Question: You had detection with both radar and FLIR?

Answer. 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.

Answer: The radar had objects on the front, slighlty to the right and on the back. The FLIR had several objects on the left so we could say that we were surrounded.

Question: Were the objects big in size?

Answer: They were big, especially two of them that were closer to us.

Question: Could FLIR have created this - is it posible to manipulate the FLIR information?

Answer: No. It is not posible 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.

UFOINFO would like to thank Santiago Yturria and UFO UpDates for granting permission to use this article. To keep up to date with follow-up reports and discussions you are advised to subscribe to UFO UpDates by writing to Errol Bruce-Knapp at: ufoupdates@virtuallystrange.net

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