Aviation Week secret aircraft report (1990)
From the UAP Encyclopedia, the open encyclopedia of UFO and UAP history · 🗓️ Event
Contents 8
| Date | 1 October 1990 |
|---|---|
| Topics | Military encounters (topic), Propulsion & physics (topic) |
| Testimony | Shellenberger testimony, p. 108 |
| Year | 1990 in UFO history |
| Timeline | 1990 on the UAP Timeline |
| Sources | 6 |
On 1 October 1990 Aviation Week & Space Technology, the leading aerospace industry magazine, published a major report on sightings of secret aircraft over the U.S. Southwest, describing dozens of observations of large, quiet triangular craft and vehicles that seemed to hover and then accelerate to supersonic speeds. Its reporting, led by William B. Scott, has been both influential and criticised.[1][2]
The report
The article, "Secret advanced vehicles demonstrate technologies for future military use", presented the sightings as evidence of classified American aircraft using advanced propulsion and airframe designs, not anything unearthly, and linked them to the "black" budget and to reports of strange sonic booms and contrails. In December 1990 Scott wrote of a possible secret hypersonic bomber.[1][3]
Later stories
Scott went on to report on the "TR-3A Manta" in 1991 and a mothership concept in 1992, and in March 2006 Aviation Week published articles on "Blackstar", a supposed secret two-stage-to-orbit system made up of a large mothership and a small spaceplane.[3][4]
Criticism
Space historian Dwayne Day argued in 2006 that Scott had a pattern of writing about secret aircraft that never materialised: his stories took a small amount of real information and added speculation, anonymous sightings and unsourced details, rarely naming anyone with direct knowledge. Day noted that the Blackstar concept had circulated in internet lore and model kits before Aviation Week reported it.[3]
Assessment
Some of the aircraft rumoured at the time were real programs since revealed, such as the TACIT BLUE stealth demonstrator. Others, such as Aurora and Blackstar, have never been confirmed. The coverage is important because it shows serious aviation journalists documenting unexplained aircraft at the same time as UFO researchers.[2][3]
People and topics
- Special access program — A U.S. classified program with access limited beyond normal secrecy rules.
- Unidentified flying object — An object in the sky that can't be identified; the older term for UAP.
On the Timeline
- Eric Walker and the Penn State alumnus (6 September 1990) — A Penn State alumnus says former university president Eric Walker attended secret UAP meetings.
- C. Richard D'Amato's warning to Vallée (1991) (1991) — Senate counsel Dick D'Amato tells Vallée that a secretive group spreading false information is breaking the law.
See every 1990 event on the UAP Timeline →
References
- "Secret advanced vehicles demonstrate technologies for future military use", Aviation Week (1 Oct 1990), reprint · strangetextsbutcher.blogspot.com · archived copy
- "The influence of Mr. Scott", Aviation Week · aviationweek.com · archived copy
- Dwayne Day, "Six blind men in a zoo: Aviation Week's mythical Blackstar", The Space Review (2006) · thespacereview.com · archived copy
- "Mothership", GlobalSecurity.org · globalsecurity.org · archived copy
- Aviation Week, 1 Oct 1990: secret aircraft sightings — Sacred Texts · sacred-texts.com · archived copy
- Reports of secret aircraft (1990s) — Sacred Texts · sacred-texts.com · archived copy
Further reading
- Skunk Works — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
- Edwards Air Force Base — Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · archived copy
This page was last edited on 29 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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