As many as twenty UFOs

Unidentified flying object

A term originally coined by the military, an unidentified flying object is an unusual apparent anomaly in the sky that is not readily identifiable to the observer as any known object...

 were seen and tracked by ground radar

Radar

Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...

 and at least six airplanes during the night of May 19, 1986 over several states in southeastern Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

. Unidentified radar returns were tracked by airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

s in São Paulo

São Paulo (state)

São Paulo is a state in Brazil. It is the major industrial and economic powerhouse of the Brazilian economy. Named after Saint Paul, São Paulo has the largest population, industrial complex, and economic production in the country. It is the richest state in Brazil...

 and the Integrated Air Defense & Air Traffic Control Center (CINDACTA

CINDACTA

The air traffic control centers of Brazil are known by the acronym CINDACTA, or "Centro Integrado de Defesa Aérea e Controle de Tráfego Aéreo...

) in Brasilia

Brasília

Brasília is the capital city of Brazil. The name is commonly spelled Brasilia in English. The city and its District are located in the Central-West region of the country, along a plateau known as Planalto Central. It has a population of about 2,557,000 as of the 2008 IBGE estimate, making it the...

. Two F-5E and three Mirage

Mirage

A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French mirage, from the Latin mirare, meaning "to look at, to wonder at"...

 jet fighter

Fighter aircraft

A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...

s were scrambled from Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, Rio de Janeiro

Santa Cruz is an extensive, populous, mostly low-income neighborhood in the West Side of Rio de Janeiro, the most distant of the central area of the city, at about from downtown Rio. Traversed by the Central do Brasil suburban railway, it has a quite diversified landscape, with rural, commercial,...

 AFB

Air Force Base

An Air Force Base is a military airbase of any of a number of air forces, such as the United States Air Force or South African Air Force ....

 in Rio de Janeiro State, and Anápolis

Anápolis

Anápolis is the third largest city in the State of Goiás in Brazil. It lies in the center of a rich agricultural region and has become a leader in food processing and pharmaceutical plants.-Location and population:...

 AFB in Goias State.

The case was discussed openly by high ranking government officials. It was first reported by Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 (Ret.) Ozires Silva

Ozires Silva

Ozires Silva is the founder of Embraer and a famous Brazilian entrepreneur.Ozires graduated on Escola de Aeronáutica do Campo dos Afonsos as a military pilot...

, president of the state-owned oil company Petrobrás

Petrobras

Petróleo Brasileiro or Petrobras is a semi-public Brazilian multinational energy corporation headquartered in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest company in Latin America by market capitalization and revenue, and the largest company headquartered in the Southern Hemisphere by market...

, who was flying on an executive Xingu

Embraer EMB 121 Xingú

|-See also:-References:* * Endres, Gunter and Gething, Mike. . Aircraft Recognition Guide, . New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 0-00-713721-4....

 turbo-prop, when he and the pilot saw and pursued unidentified objects for about 25 minutes. The incident was covered widely in the Brazilian media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

, leading to a press conference at the Ministry of Aeronautics in Brasilia on May 23, with air traffic

Air Traffic

Air Traffic was a British alternative rock band from Bournemouth. Formed in 2003, the band consists of Chris Wall , David Ryan Jordan , Tom Pritchard and Jim Maddock ....

 controllers and air force pilot

Aviator

An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

s involved in the scramble mission.

The Minister

Minister (government)

A minister is a politician who holds significant public office in a national or regional government. Senior ministers are members of the cabinet....

 of Aeronautics

Aeronautics

Aeronautics is the science involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, or the techniques of operating aircraft and rocketry within the atmosphere...

, Brigadier

Brigadier

Brigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....

 General Otávio Moreira Lima, was very outspoken:

Between 20:00 hrs (5/19) and 01:00 hrs (5/20) at least 20 objects were detected by Brazilian radars. They saturated the radars and interrupted traffic in the area. Each time that radar detected unidentified objects, fighters took off for intercept. Radar detects only solid metallic bodies and heavy (mass) clouds. There were no clouds nor conventional aircraft in the region. The sky was clear. Radar doesn't have optical illusions.

We can only give technical explanations and we don't have them. It would be very difficult for us to talk about the hypothesis of an electronic war. It's very remote and it's not the case here in Brazil. It's fantastic. The signals on the radar were quite clear.

The Minister also announced that a commission would study the incident. Air Force Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 Ney Cerqueira, in charge of the Air Defense Operations Center (CODA), was equally candid:

We don't have technical operational conditions to explain it. The appearance and disappearance of these objects on the radar screens

Display device

A display device is an output device for presentation of information in visual or tactile form...

 are unexplained. They are Unidentified Aerial Movements... The technical instruments used for the identification of the lights had problems in registering them. CODA activated two F-5E and three Mirages to identify the objects. One F-5E and one Mirage remained grounded on alert. A similar case occurred four years ago (1982 Commander Brito VASP airliner radar-visual incident). The lights were moving at a speed ranging between 250 and 1,500 km/hr. [150 to 1,000 mph] The Air Force has not closed the case.

Aeronautics Commission report was not released. However, the accounts of air force pilots and radar controllers were published widely in the press and later studied by Brazilian researchers. A comprehensive report was made by Basílio Baranoff, an airline captain, member of the Aerospace Technical Center, and consultant for the Brazilian UFO organization CBPDV. Baranoff provided a chronology of events for the night of May 19, 1986:

• 6:30 p.m. local time - First visual sightings by control tower personnel at the São José dos Campos
  São José dos Campos
  São José dos Campos is a municipality and a major city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil and one of the most important industrial and research centers in Latin America. It is located in the Paraíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the country, São Paulo ...
  
   airport in São Paulo State. Controllers notice two intense lights aligned with the runway axis at 330 degrees azimuth and approximately 15 km [10 mi] distance from the tower.

• 7:00 p.m. — The control towers in São Paulo and Brasilia confirm to São José that they have three primary targets on their screens, and that there are no scheduled aircraft in those areas.

• 8:00 p.m. — CINDACTA (Brasilia) detects up to eight targets (echoes) on its screens.

• 8:30 p.m. — A new object is observed with binoculars at the São José tower; it shows defined edges and red-orange color; it approaches the tower and then retreats.

• 9:00 p.m. — The oil company Xingu executive turbo-prop with Col. Silva requests landing conditions at São José. Both Silva and Commander Alcir Pereira, the Xingu pilot, confirm visually the luminous objects at 330 degrees azimuth. The Xingu turbo-prop attempts to follow the UFOs for 10 minutes.

• 9:10 p.m. — The Xingu turbo-prop returns for landing when a new, large luminous object heads toward the aircraft. The São Paulo tower confirms two echoes: the Xingu and an unknown, which disappears from the screen 15 minutes later.

• 9:20 p.m. — The Air Control Center in Brasilia (ACC-BR) informs the Brazilian Air Defense Command about the situation.

• 9:25 p.m. — The Xingu returns for a second landing attempt when the São Paulo tower reports yet another object at 180 degrees south, which is observed and followed by Commander Pereira.

• 9:30 p.m. — The Xingu returns for a third landing attempt when ACC-BR reports the appearance of new objects. The Xingu, now at 3,000 meters [10,000 ft] of altitude, makes visual contact with three luminous objects flying low over Petrobrás refineries and heading towards Serra do Mar
  Serra do Mar
  Serra do Mar is a 1,500 km long system of mountain ranges and escarpments in Southeastern Brazil, which runs in parallel to the Atlantic Ocean coast from the state of Espírito Santo to southern Santa Catarina, although some include Serra Geral in the Serra do Mar, in which case this range...
  
  . The Xingu finally lands in São José dos Campos.

• 9:40 p.m. — More visual sightings of a round object at 320 degrees azimuth.

• 9:50 p.m. — A luminous yellow object surrounded by smaller lights is observed at 110 degrees azimuth.

• 10:23 p.m. — The first F-5E jet fighter
  Fighter aircraft
  A fighter aircraft is a military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat with other aircraft, as opposed to a bomber, which is designed primarily to attack ground targets...
  
  , piloted by Air Force Lt. Kleber Caldas Marinho, is scrambled from Santa Cruz AFB in Rio State.

• 10:45 p.m. — The second F-5E jet, piloted by Captain Brisola Jordão, is scrambled from Santa Cruz. The first Mirage F-103, armed with Sidewinder
  AIM-9 Sidewinder
  The AIM-9 Sidewinder is a heat-seeking, short-range, air-to-air missile carried mostly by fighter aircraft and recently, certain gunship helicopters. The missile entered service with United States Air Force in the early 1950s, and variants and upgrades remain in active service with many air forces...
  
   and Matra
  Matra
  Mécanique Aviation Traction or Matra was a French company covering a wide range of activities mainly related to automobile, bicycles, aeronautics and weaponry. In 1994, it became a subsidiary of the Lagardère Group and now operates under that name.Matra was owned by the Floirat family...
  
   missiles, is scrambled from Anápolis AFB in Goias State.

• 10:55 p.m. — Anápolis AFB detects the objects on radar. The Mirage piloted by Captain Viriato does not make visual contact with the UFO, but a target is detected on its onboard radar... Captain Viriato later explained at the press conference in Brasilia that he was chasing the UFO 'at 1,350 km./hr. [850 mph], approaching the object up to a distance of 6 miles [9.5 km]. The object was heading up front and moving from one side to the other (zig-zagging) on my radar scope. Suddenly, the blip disappeared from my radar scope.'

• 11:00 p.m — The second Mirage F-103 is scrambled from Anápolis.

• 11:15 p.m. — Lt. Kleber's F-5E makes visual contact with a ball of light and chases the UFO at Mach 1.1 (1,320 km/h or 850 mph)... Kleber later declared at the press conference: 'I had one visual contact and one contact with my aircraft radar of something that looked like a luminous point, which was 12 miles [19 km] in front of me, a distance confirmed by ground radar. The object was moving from left to right and then began to climb... [it] was at 10 km [6 mi] of altitude and flying over 1,000 km/h [600 mph]. I followed it up to 200 miles [320 km] over the Atlantic Ocean
  Atlantic Ocean
  The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
  
   [limit of Brazil's territorial waters]. I wasn't afraid because I like the unknown.'

• 11:17 p.m. — The third Mirage jet is scrambled from Anápolis AFB.

• 11:20 p.m. — Captain Jordão's F-5E establishes radar contact... At the press conference a few days later, he stated: 'Near to São José dos Campos, radar detected several targets, 10 to 13 targets, at a distance of 20 miles [32 km.]. The sky was clear but I didn't see anything. Ground radar informed me that the objects were closing in: 20 miles, 15, 10, 5, suddenly there were 13 objects behind my aircraft, 6 on one side and 7 on the other, during several minutes. After I maneuvered the aircraft, the objects had disappeared.' [Captain Jordão flew for 1 hour 20 minutes.]

• 11:36 p.m. — The third Mirage is scrambled from Anápolis AFB.

• 1:00 a.m. (May 20) — By this time all jet fighters have returned to their bases."

These are the basic known facts surrounding the multiple UFO jet scramble incidents over southeastern Brazil on the night of May 19–20, 1986. It is noteworthy that Captain Baranoff added that "two nights after, ten to eleven unidentified luminous objects returned for a new round over São José dos Campos; they were observed visually and detected by the São Paulo, ACC-BR and by CINDACTA 1 radars." This time there was no official confirmation from Air Force authorities.

Lacking the final Ministry Commission report with all the pertinent data, it is difficult to make a final conclusion about this case. Many hypotheses were offered in the Brazilian media by skeptical astronomer

Astronomer

An astronomer is a scientist who studies celestial bodies such as planets, stars and galaxies.Historically, astronomy was more concerned with the classification and description of phenomena in the sky, while astrophysics attempted to explain these phenomena and the differences between them using...

s and scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

s, ranging from a meteor shower

Meteor shower

A meteor shower is a celestial event in which a number of meteors are observed to radiate from one point in the night sky. These meteors are caused by streams of cosmic debris called meteoroids entering Earth's atmosphere at extremely high speeds on parallel trajectories. Most meteors are smaller...

, a reflection of the full moon

Full moon

Full moon lunar phase that occurs when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. More precisely, a full moon occurs when the geocentric apparent longitudes of the Sun and Moon differ by 180 degrees; the Moon is then in opposition with the Sun.Lunar eclipses can only occur at...

 and ball lightning

Ball lightning

Ball lightning is an unexplained atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects which vary from pea-sized to several metres in diameter. It is usually associated with thunderstorms, but lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of a...

, to radar malfunction, space debris and spy planes. Most of these explanations seem quite insufficient to explain the events of May 19. One of the more plausible was offered by British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 space researcher Geoffrey Perry

Geoffrey Perry

Geoffrey E. Perry was a physics teacher at Kettering Grammar School, Northamptonshire, England who, together with his colleague Derek Slater, and students, deduced the existence of the previously-secret Plesetsk Cosmodrome in 1966 by analyzing the orbit of the Cosmos 112 satellite.The New York...

. According to Perry, the Soviet space station

Space station

A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...

 Salyut-7 ejected several boxes of debris

Debris

Debris is rubble, wreckage, ruins, litter and discarded garbage/refuse/trash, scattered remains of something destroyed, or, in geology, large rock fragments left by a melting glacier etc. The singular form of debris is debris...

 on that night, which re-entered the Earth

Earth

Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...

's atmosphere

Atmosphere

An atmosphere is a layer of gases that may surround a material body of sufficient mass, and that is held in place by the gravity of the body. An atmosphere may be retained for a longer duration, if the gravity is high and the atmosphere's temperature is low...

 around central-western Brazil. The re-entry of NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

's Solarwind satellite

Satellite

In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....

 was also discussed in the Brazilian press

News media

The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...

.

However, Brigadier José Cavalcanti from Brazil's Air Defense Command, was not impressed with the Salyut-7 and Solarwind explanations. He told the weekly magazine Veja

Veja (magazine)

Veja is a Brazilian weekly newsmagazine published in São Paulo and distributed throughout the country by the media conglomerate Grupo Abril. It is the leading weekly publication in the country, and one of the most influential outlets of the Brazilian press...

:

It could have been space debris, but it wasn't only that. A metallic box with space debris can be detected by radar, but it will always fall in the same direction and at constant velocity. That was not the case of what was seen in Brazil, where the objects detected by radar had speeds that varied from very slow to extremely high.

Another interesting view is the final comment in a short message from the USDAO (U.S. Defense Attaché Office) in Rio to DIA

Dia

Dia is free and open source general-purpose diagramming software, developed originally by Alexander Larsson. Dia uses a controlled single document interface similar to GIMP and Sodipodi.- Features :...

 (Defense Intelligence Agency) on the subject, entitled "BAF (Brazilian Air Force

Brazilian Air Force

The Brazilian Air Force is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Army and Navy air branch were merged into a single military force initially called "National Air Forces"...

) has a close encounter of the first kind":

COMMENT: [Censored] While RO [Reporting Officer] does not believe in UFO's or all the hoopla that surrounds previous reporting, there is too much here to be ignored. Three visual sightings and positive radar contact from three different types of radar systems, leads one to believe that something arrived over Brazil the night of 19 May."

External links

• Press Conference of Brazilian Air Force Pilots Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJFDJDY2ga8