UFO Sighting Report — Elkins, West Virginia, 22 January 1965

This document details a UFO sighting report filed by William M. Fitzgerald, Jr., regarding an incident on January 22, 1965, while he was a passenger on a Braniff Airlines jet flying from Dallas, Texas, to Washington, D.C. Mr. Fitzgerald, a former student pilot, observed a round, brilliant white object while flying near Elkins, West Virginia. He described the object as appearing to be a pin-point of light, brighter than the surrounding snow on the mountains, and noted that it paralleled the aircraft's flight path for approximately two minutes before disappearing when the pilot banked the jet. Mr. Fitzgerald initially reported the sighting to Major Ted Burkey of the USAF in Washington, D.C., and subsequently completed a formal U.S. Air Force Technical Information questionnaire (FTD Form 164). In his narrative, he noted that the object appeared to be a flat plane with no three-dimensional characteristics and that his attention was drawn to it because it did not undulate with the terrain as the aircraft passed over the mountains. The Air Force's Foreign Technology Division, specifically the Aerial Phenomena Branch led by Major Hector Quintanilla, Jr., investigated the report. The sighting was evaluated by Dr. J. Allen Hynek, the Air Force's civilian consultant to Project Blue Book. Dr. Hynek concluded that the object was a 'solar image' or 'Sun Dog,' a rare atmospheric phenomenon occurring when sunlight reflects off a thin, transparent layer of ice crystals in the atmosphere. The correspondence included in the file shows that the Air Force communicated this conclusion to Mr. Fitzgerald, explaining that the phenomenon is rare but has been documented previously. The file contains the original report, the completed questionnaire, and subsequent correspondence between the Air Force and the witness.