Argentina: Official State Commission (CEFA) Rejects 22 UFO Cases
The Comisión de Estudio de Fenómenos Aeroespaciales (Aerospace Phenomena Study Commission, or CEFAE) has released an 80-page report covering their analysis of UFO photographs for the year 2018, effectively dismissing twenty-two (22) covering the past five years. The report also includes a stunning rejection of the landmark Caso Bariloche (The Bariloche Incident of 1995) in which an airliner was supposedly harassed by a UFO that caused a total blackout in the city of Bariloche.
The report itemizes the cases investigated by the committee - a dependency of the Argentinean Air Force and the Ministry of Defense:
1) CASO BANFIELD - Pcia. de Bs. Aires (9/1/2018)
2) CASO SAN JOSÉ DE JÁCHAL - Pcia. de San Juan (30/1/2018)
3) CASO SANTA ROSA DEL CONLARA – Pcia. de San Luis (21/2/2018)
4) CASO FELIPE GRECZNY - Chivilcoy; Pcia. de Bs Aires (2/4/2017)
5) CASO ROBERTO MONDRAGÓN – Valle de la Luna; San Juan (6/7/2013)
6) CASO SANTA LUCÍA – Pcia. de San Juan (24/3/2018)
7) CASO NELSA CARMODI – Los Menucos; Pcia. de Rio Negro (1/4/2018)
8) CASO FLAVIO SOLFERINO – Ciudad de Buenos Aires (6/4/2018)
9) CASO CAPILLA DEL MONTE - Pcia. de Córdoba (11/4/2018)
10) CASO OMAR GREGORIO - Mendoza (17/5/2015)
11) CASO DIEGO CRESPO – Campana; Pcia. de Bs. As.
12) CASO PAOLA CARCO - Capilla del Monte, Pcia. de Cba.
13) CASO ELISARDO URRUTIA – En vuelo sobre Pto. Iguazú
14) CASO CRISTIAN ORELLANA - Va. La Angostura, Neuquén
15) CASO CAMPANA - Pcia. de Bs. As. (17/10/2018)
16) CASO JESÚS GUTIÉRREZ - (19/7/2018)
17) CASO DANIELA GARCÍA - Pilar, Pcia. de Bs. Aires (14/11/2018)
18) CASO FABIANA GANDOLA – Neuquén Capital (28/2/2017)
19) CASO DINA OSUNA – Banfield; Pcia. de Bs. As. (19/12/18)
20) CASO ARIEL MUÑOZ – Media Agua, Pcia. de San Juan (25/2/2018)
21) CASO GRAL ROCA - Pcia de Rio Negro (17/12/2018)
The itemized report concludes thus:
Statistical Data: 22 cases analyzed - 22 cases solved = 100%
Optical causes (lenses, sensors or reflections): 8 cases
Internal reflections in the lens set (lens flares): 2 cases
External reflections (on windows, clouds or portholes): 3 cases
Foreign bodies on the lens or porthole: 3 cases
Biological causes: 10 cases
"Flying rod" (RODS) effect caused by an insect photographed over a long exposure time: 1 case
Birds or insects flying in front of the camera (with no rod effect): 9 cases.
Astronautical causes: 2 cases
Iridium satellite flash: 1 case
Artificial satellite transit: 1 case
Objects launched into the air: 1 cause
Helium balloons in bunches: 1 case
Suspended industrial objects: 1 case
Security camera lights: 1 case
Final Recommendations:
"As evidenced, the biological causes (birds or insects) were predominant because whenever people take photos of a landscape in general without having seen any flying object that caught their attention beforehand, and moreover, when someone intentionally takes photos of the sky "to see if something shows up", the likelihood of a bird or insect crossing the camera's path is very high, reducing the photograph's strangeness index to zero, unless one chooses to believe that there are hundreds of UFOs that are "only visible to the camera" by virtue of being in "another frequency" (as some "researchers" blithely sustain without providing any specific elements to support such a statement). In fact, the birds and insects were not in any "alternate frequency" separate from our natural world. Due to this equality of conditions (Occam's Razor), birds or insects will always constitute a solid basis for solving the case, especially when their wings and other biological traits stand out during an enlarged inspection of the object. For this reason we ask our recurring witnesses who take pictures of the sky "to see if something shows up" to please restrict themselves to sending photos or videos of objects that have caught their attention before deciding to photograph them. Thank you for visiting our page. Cmdr. (Ret.) Rubén Lianza, Director CEFAE.
IPACO software was employed in conducting the analysis and mention is made throughout the document of the use of "Occam's Razor" as the main investigative approach. IPACO was developed in 2008 with monetary support from CNES, the French space agency, as part of the investigative operations of GEPAN - now GEIPAN - aimed at investigating anomalous phenomena.
The 1995 case is explained away as "a reflection of the floodlight being operated from the Rocket Discotheque" adding that a witness - Sergio Segade - had confirmed the path followed by this klieg light. "It can be deduced that the same luminous stimulus seen by Segade coincides with the main UFO seen by all other witnesses. No evidence was found that could refute the possibility of considering one of the platform's lighting towers as the likeliest cause of the 'flash' seen, owing to an overvoltage prior to the general blackout" that plunged Bariloche into darkness.
[Our thanks to Luis Burgos of FAO and ICOU for providing this information]