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Federal Aviation Administration

The Federal Aviation Administration keeps the public aircraft registry and issues the flight restrictions and UAP reporting rules recurring in the Epstein, Seal and Sierra Blanca records.

Also known as
FAA, Federal Aviation Agency
Location
Washington, D.C.
Mentioned on
37 pages
Last edited

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the United States agency that regulates civil aviation, operates the national airspace system and keeps the public record of U.S.-registered aircraft.1 It was created as the Federal Aviation Agency in 1958 and took its present name on April 1, 1967, when it became one of the modal administrations of the Department of Transportation.23

Creation and leadership

The Federal Aviation Act of 1958 established the agency in its first section: "There is hereby established the Federal Aviation Agency."1 The act was signed on August 23, 1958. Elwood R. Quesada, a retired U.S. Air Force general, became the first administrator on November 1, 1958, and the agency began operations on December 31 of that year.3 The Department of Transportation Act of October 15, 1966 created the department and placed a Federal Aviation Administration within it.2 The department began full operations on April 1, 1967, and the agency took the new name.3 The FAA's biography series lists eighteen administrators, from Quesada through Stephen M. Dickson, who took office on August 12, 2019.4

Aircraft registry

The N-Number Inquiry on the FAA's registry site reports, for a registration mark, whether the mark is assigned, deregistered or reserved, the registered owner name and mailing address, the certificate issue date, the make, model and serial number, and the Mode S code. The page states that its data is "Updated Each Federal Working Day At Midnight."5 Reserved marks carry a reservation date and renewal and purge dates. The mark N3FD, which appears in the Epstein Files and on the St. Thomas Jet Center page, was listed on October 14, 2026 as reserved, with a reservation date of July 21, 2022, a renewal date of May 25, 2026 and a purge date of August 21, 2027.6

Two marks connected to Barry Seal and his Southern Air Transport operations, N4410F and N5575A, are listed as deregistered.7 The registry also lists N1437J, a Cessna 210A that the record associates with the family of R.C. Horsch, as deregistered.8

Active marks appear in the same inquiry. N114BD is assigned, with Black Diamond Aviation Group LLC as registered owner.9 N615BD is registered to Stephen Deckoff as an individual.10 N908JE, the mark of the Boeing 727 known as the Lolita Express, is assigned to Jet Assets Inc.11

Section 803 of the FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 added 49 U.S.C. 44114, which requires the FAA, on request of a private aircraft owner, to withhold the registration number and personally identifiable information from broad public display, with exceptions for data furnished to government agencies, including for traffic management.12 The FAA opened the request process on March 28, 2025 through its Civil Aviation Registry Electronic Services system, and said it was evaluating whether to withhold the personally identifiable information of private owners from the public registry by default.13 A request for comment followed in the Federal Register on April 3, 2025.14 The N615BD record displayed the registered owner's name in the public inquiry on October 14, 2026.10

Epstein aircraft files

In August and September 2021 a special agent of the FAA's Law Enforcement Assistance Program in Atlanta corresponded with federal investigators about the registration files of aircraft tied to Jeffrey Epstein.15 On August 18, 2021 the investigators sent the agent a list of search terms: Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell, Air Ghislaine, Thomas World Air LLC, Hyperion Air LLC, Freedom Air Petroleum LLC, NES LLC, Maple, Inc. and Nautilus Inc.15 The agent wrote the same day that a special agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration at the Saint Thomas Resident Office had been interested in Epstein and his aircraft in 2015 and 2016, and that in August 2019 the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Atlanta had been interested in aircraft linked to Epstein.15 His notes, re-sent by the investigators on September 29, state that he had ordered certified copies of the registration records of ten aircraft, to be sent by regular mail from the FAA in Oklahoma.15 The same chain appears in a second production in the Department of Justice's Epstein Library.16

The companies in the notes include Air Ghislaine, Inc., JEGE, Inc. and Hyperion Air Inc. Air Ghislaine Inc. of Wilmington, Delaware bought a Sikorsky S-76C-2 helicopter, N750A, on December 30, 2008; Larry Visoski signed as Director of Aviation. The company changed its name to Shmitka Air Inc. on February 11, 2010, and the helicopter took the number N722JE in March 2010. JEGE Inc. bought a 1969 Boeing 727 on January 19, 2001, renumbered it N908JE in April 2001, and was its registered owner until the registration was cancelled on October 5, 2019; the agent wrote that the aircraft was on the Part 125 certificate of JEGE Inc., whose chief executive was Epstein. Hyperion Air Inc. bought a 1974 Gulfstream in 1994 on a document signed by Epstein as president, renumbered it N909JE, and sold it in November 2013. Of a Bell 430 helicopter that Hyperion Air Inc. registered in 2012 and transferred in August 2013 to Hyperion Air LLC of St. Thomas, the agent wrote that "the same players in the Inc and LLC are on the FAA registration paperwork," naming Darren Indyke and Visoski.15

Of a Gulfstream G550 registered in 2017 to Plan D LLC, a Virgin Islands company of which Visoski was manager, the agent wrote: "I don't see EPSTEIN's name on any of the FAA paperwork." Two paragraphs later he wrote that the statement in support of registration that Plan D LLC submitted to the FAA listed Epstein as a member and Visoski as manager.15 Of Indyke, he wrote: "No FAA certificates issued to Darren INDYKE."15 The notes state that no other aircraft were registered or indexed to Hyperion Air Inc. or LLC, Plan D LLC, Ossa Properties Inc., Epstein, Maxwell and the other searched entities.15

On N908JE the agent wrote that it "might be in Brunswick, Georgia." On September 29, 2021 he wrote that he was retiring on September 30.15

Carter Cornick and the Townley expulsion

Carter Cornick, a former FBI special agent, was named in the press in 1978 as accompanying Michael Townley on the flight to the United States after Chile expelled Townley.17 In a 2016 article in the newsletter of the Society of Former Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cornick wrote that the stir in the United States caused the FAA to order the plane to make an unscheduled landing in Baltimore before it reached its planned destination in New York.18

Japan Air Lines flight 1628

On November 17, 1986 a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 cargo flight, flight 1628, flew from Reykjavik to Anchorage under Captain Kenju Terauchi. FAA special agents interviewed the crew at Anchorage that evening. The crew described lights in two sets, yellow, amber and green and none red, first ahead of the aircraft and then on its left; an object on the aircraft's weather radar at about seven to eight nautical miles; a 360 degree turn near Fairbanks during which the lights stayed with the aircraft; and loss of the lights about 40 miles north of Talkeetna. A record by the FAA Alaskan Region Flight Standards manager states that the duty officer of the North American Aerospace Defense Command told him that military radar also showed two targets, one of them the JAL aircraft.19

The FAA's Alaskan Region recorded the sequence of its public response: a correspondent of Kyodo News visited on December 24, 1986 and the Alaska bureau chief of United Press International on December 29; the agency re-interviewed the crew on January 4, 1987; and on January 5 the regional director approved a plan to withhold further release until all material had been collected and to release it at a press conference on March 5, 1987 at 10:00 a.m.20 United Press International reported on January 1, 1987 that Terauchi said the largest object was "two times bigger than an aircraft carrier" and that the sighting appeared on FAA and Air Force radar and on the cockpit radar.21 At the March 5 press conference the Alaskan Region public affairs officer, Paul Steucke, handed out a statement that read in part: "We have not tried to determine what the crew of Japan Airlines flight 1628 saw based on scientific analysis of the stars, planets, magnetic fields, angle of view, etc." and "The FAA has completed its investigation of JAL flight 1628, and does not intend to pursue it any further."22 In a letter of April 1, 1987 to Philip J. Klass he wrote that the FAA was "not concerned with UFO's per se" and that its primary concern was the safety of the airspace.22 Steucke said the radar blip on FAA screens had been analyzed as a split image of the JAL aircraft; Sam Rich, an FAA controller on duty, said in a news report that none of the controllers thought so at the time.20 In a letter of May 14, 1987 the FAA's Alaska Region told a correspondent that the report, titled "JAL Flight 1628 Unidentified Traffic Sighting, 11/17/86," was available from the National Technical Information Service as accession PB87-184206 at $30.95 for a paper copy.23

John Callahan was an FAA official in Washington, D.C. (office symbol AAT-63). In memoranda of March 10 and 11, 1987 Steucke recorded that Bruce Maccabee of the Naval Surface Weapons Center told him on February 20 that he and several other people had been invited by Callahan, in late January or early February, to see the Alaskan material, which Maccabee described as including the transcript, color photographs of the radar screen, the crew interview and controller statements, and that Callahan told him about a C-130 and Alaska Airlines sighting of January 29, 1987. Steucke attributed to Callahan the release of material that had reached Klass, and wrote that Callahan "probably" received it from one of two FAA employees to whom the Alaskan Region Air Traffic Division had sent it.24 Callahan later described the Washington briefing as including personnel of the Central Intelligence Agency and science advisers of the Reagan administration, and said that at its end a CIA representative told the attendees that the event never happened and that they were sworn to secrecy. Skeptoid reported that Ron Pandolfi and Maccabee, both of whom attended, said that no one was sworn to secrecy.25 Callahan is credited in the acknowledgments of the 2007 National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) report on the 2006 O'Hare sighting as "John Callahan, FAA, ret."26

The 2006 O'Hare sighting

On November 7, 2006 witnesses at Chicago O'Hare International Airport reported an object hovering above Gate C17. The Chicago Tribune reported on January 1, 2007 that the FAA had at first told the newspaper it had no information, and reversed after the Tribune filed a Freedom of Information Act request; an internal FAA review of air traffic communications tapes found a call from a United Airlines supervisor to an FAA manager in the tower.27 The FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory was quoted as saying that none of the tower controllers saw the object, that "a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary," and: "Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon. That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things." She said the FAA was not investigating.2627 NARCAP, which examined the case as its Case 18, reported that its examination of the primary radar data supplied by the FAA found that nothing was detected by radar at that location and time.26

UAP reporting rules

The FAA's controller order, JO 7110.65, tells controllers to "Inform the operations supervisor/CIC of any reported or observed unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)/unexplained phenomena activity."28 The companion order, JO 7210.3, states that pilot reports and air traffic observations of UAP "must be reported to the National Tactical Security Operations (NTSO) Air Traffic Security Coordinator (ATSC) team on the Domestic Events Network (DEN)." It refers other people who want to report UAP to the website of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office.29

The Aeronautical Information Manual's section 7-6-4 on UFO reports, in the web edition containing changes through August 27, 2009, told the public to contact "an UFO/Unexplained Phenomena Reporting Data Collection Center, such as the National Institute for Discovery Sciences (NIDS), the National UFO Reporting Center, etc." and, if concern was expressed that life or property might be endangered, to report the activity to the local law enforcement department.30 Section 7-6 of the current manual on the FAA site does not carry that paragraph.31

Section 1673 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 directed the Secretary of Defense to establish a "secure mechanism for authorized reporting" of events relating to unidentified anomalous phenomena.32 The 2025 workshop paper of AARO states that "the FAA continues to collect pilot reports."33 A 2024 workshop on UAP data organized with Associated Universities, Inc. proposed designing its reporting schema so that "reports can be linked to FAA/NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) data," along with ADS-B flight tracks.34

Luis Elizondo wrote that U.S. Navy intelligence leadership tasked Jay Stratton with building a whole-of-government task force with members from the FBI, the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and the FAA, and that Stratton became the first director of the UAP Task Force.35

Drone rules and the fixed-site restriction process

The FAA's small unmanned aircraft rules, 14 CFR part 107, were adopted in a final rule published June 28, 2016 at 81 FR 42064.36 Remote identification of unmanned aircraft, 14 CFR part 89, was adopted in a rule published January 15, 2021 at 86 FR 4390.37

Section 2209 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-190, enacted July 15, 2016) directed the Secretary of Transportation to establish a process for petitioning the FAA Administrator to restrict unmanned aircraft operations in close proximity to a fixed site facility.38 Executive Order 14305, "Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty," dated June 6, 2025, was published at 90 FR 24719 on June 11, 2025.39

On May 6, 2026 the FAA published a notice of proposed rulemaking at 91 FR 24650 under docket FAA-2026-4558. It proposes a new part 74 under which operators or proprietors of fixed site facilities could request an unmanned aircraft flight restriction. Eligible facilities are limited to those that meet the critical infrastructure definition in 42 U.S.C. 5195c(e), a limit the notice describes as consistent with Executive Order 14305.40 The comment period, originally set to close on July 6, 2026, was extended to August 5, 2026 by a notice published June 30, 2026.41

On June 8, 2026 ELDAEON filed comment FAA-2026-4558-0285 in the docket, asking the FAA to recognize passive radar as an approved method of meeting the protective security measures requirement of proposed 14 CFR 74.54.42

New Jersey and the December 2024 statement

On December 17, 2024 the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, the FAA and the Department of Defense issued a joint statement on reported drone sightings in New Jersey and the northeast. The statement said the FBI "has received tips of more than 5,000 reported drone sightings in the last few weeks with approximately 100 leads generated." It attributed the sightings to a combination of lawful commercial, hobbyist and law enforcement drones, as well as "manned fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and stars mistakenly reported as drones," and said: "We have not identified anything anomalous and do not assess the activity to date to present a national security or public safety risk over the civilian airspace in New Jersey or other states in the northeast."43 The statement also referred to "a limited number of visual sightings of drones over military facilities in New Jersey."43

Temporary flight restrictions in West Texas

FDC NOTAM 5/3497, issued by the Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center (ZAB) under the heading "FORT HANCOCK, TX," runs from November 6, 2025 to November 6, 2026 local. It states that the FAA classifies the airspace it defines as "NTL DEFENSE AIRSPACE" under 49 USC 40103(B)(3), that pilots who do not adhere to its procedures may be intercepted, detained and interviewed, and that the government "MAY USE DEADLY FORCE AGAINST THE AIRBORNE ACFT" if the aircraft is determined to pose an imminent security threat.44 The NOTAM cites 14 CFR 99.7 for its special security instructions.44 The registry lists N3051Q, a helicopter, as assigned to Charlie Helicopter Company LLC.45

Ross Coulthart wrote on August 10, 2026 that the notice was "posted by the FAA on Nov. 8, 2025," and that he had learned the restriction "was initiated by the Defense Department's Joint Special Operations Command liaison to the FAA and imposed 'to shoot down drones'"; he wrote that the closure "effectively shut down Skywatcher's operations on their Sierra Blanca range."46 The Mile High Resources Range of Mile High Resources near Sierra Blanca, Texas, where Sky Watcher operated, lies inside the airspace polygon when parcel data are plotted against the NOTAM coordinates.47

Commercial space licensing

Lobbying disclosure filings by the Brimley Group for Bigelow Aerospace LLC, the company of Robert Bigelow, list the FAA among the issues in 2015. The first quarter filing refers to "the FAA's Office of Commercial Space" in appropriations bills, and the second quarter filing refers to "the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation."48 The Office of Commercial Space Transportation is the FAA office named in those filings.

Department of Homeland Security records

The Special Access Program proposal in the KONA BLUE records of the Department of Homeland Security listed, among the feeds of its Data Analysis Center, radar tracks from the Federal Aviation Administration.49 A 2011 and 2012 goals document of Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies released by the department lists, under Area 2, liaison with the intelligence community, the FBI, state, local and tribal police, the FAA, the Department of Defense (including AFOSI), national laboratories and U.S. aerospace companies.50

The September 11 attacks

The 9/11 Commission Report describes the FAA's Boston Center as the center that had tracked the first two hijackings. At 8:28 a.m. on September 11, 2001, Boston Center called the FAA's Command Center in Herndon to advise that it believed American Airlines Flight 11 had been hijacked. At 8:32 the Command Center passed word of a possible hijacking to the Operations Center at FAA headquarters. The report states that "FAA headquarters began to follow the hijack protocol but did not contact the NMCC to request a fighter escort."51 The report places the Northeast Air Defense Sector of the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Rome, New York.51

Scientific advisers and training

Garrison Rapmund, a U.S. Army major general, was described in a 2018 alumni memorial of Columbia University as a scientific adviser to the National Institutes of Health, the FAA and the Department of Energy.52 Edwin May wrote to Jessica Utts on August 1, 1995 that Rapmund served on the Air Force Science Advisory Board and "is involved in policy matters with the FAA."53 The State Department's monthly magazine reported that Mayer Nudell and a colleague attended a civil aviation security course at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City from November 28 to December 2, 1984.54 A New Jersey law of January 2026 on air traffic controller loan redemption and UAP research establishes aviation grants for public institutions that participate in the federal Unmanned Aircraft Systems Collegiate Training Initiative; the legislature's fiscal estimate states, on information from the FAA, that as of May 2025 three New Jersey public institutions participate: Atlantic Cape Community College, Warren County Community College and Kean University.55

Other records

In a memoir, Ben Rich wrote of the Blackbird flights: "We had to clear FAA controllers along the flight paths, otherwise they'd think they were seeing flying saucers at Mach 3 plus on their radar screens."56

Relationships 5

Member of
  • Department of Transportation, from 1967, modal administration within the Department of Transportation, created by the Department of Transportation Act2
Took part in
  • UAP Task Force, from 2020, member agency of the planned interagency task force, according to Luis Elizondo35
  • Executive Order 14305, from 2025, directed by section 5 to submit the section 2209 proposed rule and to promulgate a final rule1
Headed by
  • Elwood R. Quesada, 1958–1961, first Federal Aviation Agency Administrator3
  • Stephen M. Dickson, from 2019, Eighteenth FAA Administrator4

Sources

  1. Federal Aviation Act of 1958, Pub. L. 85-726, 72 Stat. 731 (August 23, 1958), section 301(a). U.S. Government Publishing Office, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-72/pdf/STATUTE-72-Pg731.pdf ↩
  2. Department of Transportation Act, Pub. L. 89-670, 80 Stat. 931 (October 15, 1966), section 3(e)(1). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/STATUTE-80/pdf/STATUTE-80-Pg931.pdf ↩
  3. Federal Aviation Administration, "A Brief History of the FAA." https://www.faa.gov/about/history/brief_history ↩
  4. Federal Aviation Administration, "FAA Administrators," biographies in the Historical Chronology appendix. https://www.faa.gov/sites/faa.gov/files/about/history/chronolog_history/AOA_bios.pdf ↩
  5. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry page, header "Data Updated Each Federal Working Day At Midnight," accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=3FD ↩
  6. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N3FD ("N3FD has Reserved/Multiple Records"; reserved date 07/21/2022; renewal date 05/25/2026; purge date 08/21/2027), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=3FD ↩
  7. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N4410F ("is Deregistered") and N5575A ("is Deregistered"), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=4410F ; https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=5575A ↩
  8. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N1437J ("is Deregistered"), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=1437J ↩
  9. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N114BD ("is Assigned N-Number"; registered owner BLACK DIAMOND AVIATION GROUP LLC), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=114BD ↩
  10. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N615BD (type registration Individual; registered owner DECKOFF STEPHEN H), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=615BD ↩
  11. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N908JE (registered owner JET ASSETS INC), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=908JE ↩
  12. FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, Pub. L. 118-63, section 803 (adding 49 U.S.C. 44114), 138 Stat. 1322 (May 16, 2024). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-118publ63/pdf/PLAW-118publ63.pdf ↩
  13. Federal Aviation Administration, "FAA Moves to Protect Aircraft Owners' Private Information," March 28, 2025. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/faa-moves-protect-aircraft-owners-private-information ↩
  14. Federal Aviation Administration, "Request for Comment To Withhold Certain Aircraft Registration Information From Public Dissemination," 90 FR 14590 (April 3, 2025), Docket No. FAA-2025-0638. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/03/2025-05738/request-for-comment-to-withhold-certain-aircraft-registration-information-from-public-dissemination ↩
  15. U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 8, EFTA00021675 to EFTA00021684, email chain "RE: FAA Question," between a Special Agent of the Federal Aviation Administration, Law Enforcement Assistance Program, Atlanta, and federal investigators, August 17 to September 29, 2021. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%208/EFTA00021675.pdf ↩
  16. U.S. Department of Justice, Epstein Library, DataSet 9, EFTA00087596, email chain "RE: FAA Question," August to September 2021, second production. https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00087596.pdf ↩
  17. American Embassy Santiago (George Landau) to Secretary of State, "Letelier/Moffitt Assassination Investigation," telegram 1978SANTIA03456, May 9, 1978, released 2014. https://archive.org/details/StateDeptcable1978-117178 ↩
  18. L. Carter Cornick Jr., "Chilbom," The Grapevine (Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI), August 2016. https://fbistudies.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/FBI-Grapevine-Chilbom.pdf . ↩
  19. Federal Aviation Administration, Air Transportation Security records of the interviews of the crew of JAL Flight 1628 at Anchorage, November 17, 1986, with a record by the Alaskan Region Flight Standards manager of the same evening. https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/jal1628/733667-001-005.pdf ↩
  20. Federal Aviation Administration, Alaskan Region, 1987 Alaska PRSA Aurora Award entry, Category 8, "JAL 1628" (chronology, plan of January 5, 1987 and results as of August 14, 1987), with a news report on the radar track. https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/jal1628/733667-002-002.pdf ↩
  21. United Press International, "Plane Maneuvered to Avoid Object: Pilot Recounts Sighting Enormous UFO," Los Angeles Times, January 1, 1987. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-01-mn-1922-story.html ↩
  22. Paul Steucke, FAA Alaskan Region Public Affairs Officer, statement "Lack of 'Scientific' Investigation," March 5, 1987, and letter to Philip J. Klass, April 1, 1987, in the FAA's JAL 1628 file. https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/jal1628/733667-001-003.pdf ↩
  23. Federal Aviation Administration, Alaska Region, letter to a correspondent, May 14, 1987, enclosing the National Technical Information Service listing for "JAL Flight 1628 Unidentified Traffic Sighting, 11/17/86" (PB87-184206). https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/jal1628/733667-001-001.pdf ↩
  24. Paul Steucke, memoranda "Release of Incident Information re: JAL 1628 (UFO)" of March 10 and March 11, 1987, with records of his telephone conversations with Philip J. Klass (February 18, 1987) and Bruce Maccabee (February 20, 1987), in the FAA's JAL 1628 file. https://documents.theblackvault.com/documents/ufos/jal1628/733667-001-003.pdf ↩
  25. The Black Vault, "The Vault Files: 1986 Alaska JAL Flight 1628," reporting Callahan's account of the January 1987 meeting. https://www.theblackvault.com/casefiles/the-vault-files-1986-alaska-jal-flight-1628/ ; Brian Dunning, "The Alaska UFO Incident," Skeptoid episode 4753, describing the account as Callahan's chapter in Leslie Kean, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (2010) and reporting statements of Ron Pandolfi and Bruce Maccabee. https://skeptoid.com/episodes/4753 ↩
  26. Richard F. Haines et al., "Report of an Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon and its Safety Implications at O'Hare International Airport on November 7, 2006," NARCAP Technical Report TR-10, Case 18 (revision of July 24, 2007), acknowledgments, sections 2.1.1, 3.4 and 7.0. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5cf80ff422b5a90001351e31/t/5db33f31d35a623422d8010c/1572028245437/TR10_1edition.pdf ↩
  27. Chicago Tribune, January 1, 2007, p. 1, by Jon Hilkevitch, as summarized in "O'Hare UFO Controversy: Witnesses Say Yes, Feds No," The National Ledger (Apache Junction, Arizona), January 4, 2007. https://ufologie.patrickgross.org/press/nationalledger4jan2007.htm ↩
  28. Federal Aviation Administration, Air Traffic Control order JO 7110.65, para. 9-8-1, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Reports." https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/atc_html/chap9_section_8.html ↩
  29. Federal Aviation Administration, Air Traffic Control order JO 7210.3, para. 4-7-4, "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) Reports." https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/foa_html/chap4_section_7.html ↩
  30. Federal Aviation Administration, Aeronautical Information Manual, section 7-6-4, "Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) Reports," web edition containing Change 3 of August 27, 2009, as archived October 6, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20091006140356/http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/ATpubs/AIM/Chap7/aim0706.html ↩
  31. Federal Aviation Administration, Aeronautical Information Manual, chapter 7, section 6, current online edition. https://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim_html/chap7_section_6.html ↩
  32. National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023, Pub. L. 117-263, section 1673, 136 Stat. 2960 (December 23, 2022). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-117publ263/pdf/PLAW-117publ263.pdf ↩
  33. All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office, "2025 UAP Workshop: Narrative Data, Infrastructures, and Analysis. Workshop Synthesis and Recommendations," 26-P-0344, archived copy. https://web.archive.org/web/20260927135859/https://www.aaro.mil/Portals/136/PDFs/Information%20Papers/2025_UAP_Workshop_Paper.pdf ↩
  34. Associated Universities, Inc. and Florida State University, "Executive Summary on the 2024 UAP Workshop," version 1.1 (June 2024), Zenodo record 12210158, archived PDF. https://web.archive.org/web/20260214015245/https://zenodo.org/records/12210158/files/UAP%20Workshop%20Executive%20Summary_ver1.1.pdf ↩
  35. Luis Elizondo, Imminent: Inside the Pentagon's Hunt for UFOs (New York: William Morrow, 2024), pp. 211 and 223. ↩
  36. Federal Aviation Administration, "Operation and Certification of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems," final rule, 81 FR 42064 (June 28, 2016), document 2016-15079. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2016/06/28/2016-15079/operation-and-certification-of-small-unmanned-aircraft-systems ↩
  37. Federal Aviation Administration, "Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft," final rule, 86 FR 4390 (January 15, 2021), document 2020-28948. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2021/01/15/2020-28948/remote-identification-of-unmanned-aircraft ↩
  38. FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016, Pub. L. 114-190, section 2209 ("Applications for designation"), July 15, 2016. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-114publ190/pdf/PLAW-114publ190.pdf ↩
  39. Executive Order 14305, "Restoring American Airspace Sovereignty," June 6, 2025, 90 FR 24719 (June 11, 2025). https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/06/11/2025-10803/restoring-american-airspace-sovereignty ↩
  40. Federal Aviation Administration, "Designation, Restrict the Operation of Unmanned Aircraft in Close Proximity to a Fixed Site Facility," notice of proposed rulemaking, 91 FR 24650 (May 6, 2026), Docket No. FAA-2026-4558, Notice No. 26-03. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/06/2026-08943/designation-restrict-the-operation-of-unmanned-aircraft-in-close-proximity-to-a-fixed-site-facility ↩
  41. Federal Aviation Administration, extension of the comment period for the notice at 91 FR 24650, 91 FR 39568 (June 30, 2026), FR Doc. 2026-13126. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/30/2026-13126/designation-restrict-the-operation-of-unmanned-aircraft-in-close-proximity-to-a-fixed-site-facility ↩
  42. Eldaeon Inc., comment FAA-2026-4558-0285 on the notice at 91 FR 24650, posted June 8, 2026. https://www.regulations.gov/comment/FAA-2026-4558-0285 ↩
  43. Department of Homeland Security, FBI, FAA and Department of Defense, "Joint Statement on Ongoing Response to Reported Drone Sightings," December 17, 2024. https://www.faa.gov/newsroom/dhs-fbi-faa-dod-joint-statement-ongoing-response-reported-drone-sightings ↩
  44. Federal Aviation Administration, FDC NOTAM 5/3497 (ZAB), text from the FAA Temporary Flight Restrictions API, read October 14, 2026. https://tfr.faa.gov/tfrapi/getNotamText?notamId=5/3497 ↩
  45. FAA Aircraft Registry, N-Number Inquiry Results for N3051Q (registered owner CHARLIE HELICOPTER COMPANY LLC), accessed October 14, 2026. https://registry.faa.gov/AircraftInquiry/Search/NNumberResult?nNumberTxt=3051Q ↩
  46. Ross Coulthart, "Is the Trump administration running a covert UFO program?," NewsNation Reality Check, August 10, 2026. https://www.newsnationnow.com/podcasts-newsnation/reality-check/trump-administration-covert-ufo-program/amp/ ↩
  47. Texas Geographic Information Office, StratMap land parcels, Hudspeth County, 2026-03 roll, plotted against the polygon of FDC NOTAM 5/3497. https://tfr.faa.gov/tfrapi/getNotamText?notamId=5/3497 ↩
  48. Lobbying Disclosure Act filings, Brimley Group Inc. for Bigelow Aerospace, LLC, first quarter 2015 (filed April 17, 2015), https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/84f7d539-3700-4bce-8ccd-8d9393efc52a/print/ ; second quarter 2015 (filed July 17, 2015), https://lda.gov/filings/public/filing/f8cd4948-266c-4401-8c8a-972c24851ce1/print/ ↩
  49. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, KONA BLUE records released with AARO, Special Access Program proposal under DHS Instruction 140-04-001, Data Analysis Center section, pp. 17 to 31. https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2024/06/AARO_DHS_Kona_Blue.pdf ↩
  50. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, final response letter of June 20, 2023, case 2022-HQFO-00386, with enclosure "BAASS Goals 2011/2012," Area 2, item 1. ↩
  51. National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report (2004), chapter 1, sections "FAA Awareness" and "The FAA and NORAD." https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GPO-911REPORT/pdf/GPO-911REPORT.pdf ↩
  52. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia Medicine, Fall/Winter 2018, "In Memoriam," Class of 1953. https://www.vagelos.columbia.edu/about-us/columbia-medicine-magazine/archives/fall-winter-2018/memoriam/alumni ↩
  53. Edwin C. May, "Project Contacts," memorandum to Jessica M. Utts, August 1, 1995, CIA-RDP96-00791R000200190048-5. https://archive.org/details/cia-readingroom-document-cia-rdp96-00791r000200190048-5 ↩
  54. U.S. Department of State, State, nos. 263 to 273 (1984), "Office for Combatting Terrorism" columns. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=osu.32435066730094 ↩
  55. Office of Legislative Services, Legislative Fiscal Estimate, S4432 1R, December 16, 2025. https://pub.njleg.gov/Bills/2024/S4500/4432_E1.HTM ↩
  56. Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos, Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed (Boston: Little, Brown, 1994). ↩

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