Description

ON SEPTEMBER 4th 1971, on board a twin-engine Aero Commander F680 aeroplane, an automated camera captured an image of a “flying saucer”, which to this day has never been successfully debunked.

The National Geographic Institute of Costa Rica was studying the potential impact on surrounding land and water of a hydroelectric project in the vicinity of the Arenal Volcano in the northern highlands.

At 10,000 feet, aerial photographer Sergio Loaiza activated the 100lb map-making camera. At 20 second intervals, the camera shot images of the water and rainforest in high resolution black and white.

None of the occupants were aware of what the camera had captured that morning. Even after the film was developed and the negatives filed away, they did not realise what they had captured.

Eventually, after pulling out the negatives to study potential ways to connect Lake Cote with the nearby Arenal Lagoon, they noticed the anomalous object hovering over Lake Cote.

On frame number 300, with a timestamp of 8.25am, the image shows what appears to be a shiny metallic disc on the right of the photograph. Over the years, the object’s size has been estimated to be between 120-220 feet in diameter.

Naturally the individuals were excited as to what they might have captured but this was short lived as the higher ups at the National Geographic Institute quickly told them not to talk about it. Why were they told this? And when did that change? Obviously they were allowed to talk about it at some point, and the study by Haines and Vallée was published. I have always thought that the government was to be commended for being transparent… so this is a surprise..