Project 10073 Record Card — Sighting of 24 September 1962

This document details a report of an unidentified flying object observed by a TWA pilot on the night of 24 September 1962. While flying a Boeing 707 from New York to Lisbon at an altitude of approximately 37,000 feet, the pilot observed a blue-white object, described as the size of a football, moving at great speed. The object passed close to the aircraft, illuminating the surrounding area. The pilot, who also owned a service station in Dover, New Jersey, initially reported the incident upon landing in Lisbon but subsequently contacted Picatinny Arsenal, concerned that the object might be a missile originating from Russia, given its low altitude and rapid climb. The pilot provided further details to arsenal personnel, noting he was flying a 120-degree magnetic heading and that the object appeared at approximately 50 degrees tangent to the Earth. He noted cloud cover below the aircraft and described the object as very bright with a tail emitting sparks. The pilot's flight path and the position of the sighting were marked on a Doppler Chart (Chart TWA NA C/L-2). The official conclusion reached by the investigating authorities was that the sighting was a meteor. The report explains that the appearance of sparks and the object's trajectory created an illusion of it emerging from below the clouds and heading toward the aircraft, which was ultimately attributed to the nature of a meteor sighting. The documentation includes correspondence between the 1127th USAF Field Activities Group and the Foreign Technology Division (FTD) at Wright-Patterson AFB, as well as transmittal documents from the U.S. Army Munitions Command at Picatinny Arsenal.