Project 10073 Record Card — Unidentified Flying Object Sighting, 16 April 1956

This document is a formal report regarding an Unidentified Flying Object (UFO) sighting by Captain Thomas P. Petit, a pilot with the 313th Fighter Bomber Squadron (Reserve), on 16 April 1956. Captain Petit, while flying an T-33A aircraft at 37,000 feet on an IFR flight from Kirtland Air Force Base to Hill Air Force Base, observed an object for approximately 25 minutes. He initially identified the object as a blinking light and suspected it might be another aircraft. However, after turning off his cockpit lights to eliminate interior reflections and verifying his position, he noted that the object displayed no discernible outline or features, appeared to be the size of a baseball held at arm's length, and shifted colors between blue and white. The object exhibited rapid, erratic horizontal and vertical movements within a small area. Captain Petit estimated the object's altitude at 40,000 feet on an azimuth of 290 degrees. He reported the sighting to Salt Lake Air Traffic Control upon arriving over Fairfield, Utah. The report includes a formal statement from Captain Petit and a Project 10073 Record Card. The official ATIC (Air Technical Intelligence Center) evaluation concluded that the object was likely the planet Venus. The ATIC comment suggests that the perceived erratic movement was an optical effect caused by viewing a fixed celestial body through an aircraft windshield while the aircraft itself was subject to slight yawing and movement on its axes. The report was forwarded by Lt. Colonel William J. Hall of the 2849th Air Base Wing in accordance with Air Force Regulation 200-2.