2004 Mexican Air Force UFO incident
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Contents 4
| Type | Case |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Mexican Air Force UFO video, Campeche UFO video |
The 2004 Mexican Air Force UFO incident refers to an infrared video recorded on 5 March 2004 by a Mexican military surveillance aircraft over the state of Campeche, showing up to eleven bright objects invisible to the naked eye. Released by a well-known Mexican UFO broadcaster, it caused a sensation; skeptical analysts concluded that the lights were gas flares on offshore oil platforms.[1][2]
The video
A Merlin C-26 aircraft of Mexico's Defence Secretariat, searching for drug-smuggling flights, was using a FLIR Star SAFIRE II infrared camera at about 3,500 metres when it recorded a series of bright points of light that could not be seen visually. Radar also picked up some unidentified returns. On the recording one crew member can be heard shouting "We are not alone!"[1][2]
Release
The Defence Ministry gave the footage to journalist Jaime Maussan, a longtime promoter of UFO claims, who presented it at a press conference on 11 May 2004 and said the objects were real, had mass and energy, and at one point surrounded the aircraft. The ministry confirmed to Reuters that it had provided the video.[1] Mexican scientists offered various explanations, including electrical discharges, ball lightning and meteor fragments.[2]
The oil-flare explanation
By 20 May skeptical analysts had identified the probable source: gas flares from oil wells on platforms in the Bay of Campeche, the centre of Mexico's oil industry. Writing in Skeptical Inquirer, Robert Sheaffer showed that the camera was pointing back towards the offshore platforms, and that at higher zoom the individual flares could be distinguished. Infrared specialist John Lester Miller explained that such cameras are designed to detect heat that the eye cannot see, and that hot, humid conditions at sunset distort the images. Researcher Brad Sparks found that some of the radar returns matched vehicles on a nearby highway.[2]
References
This page was last edited on 31 October 2026. Articles are written in our own words from the sources listed under References; disputed claims are attributed to the people who made them.
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