20.50N 176.00E (Pacific), September 1961September 1961

On September 5, 1961, the flight crew of a Pan American Airways Boeing 707 airliner spotted a bright streak of light in the night sky over the Pacific Ocean. The aircraft was flying at 28,000 feet, roughly 400 miles north of the Hawaiian islands, at a position of 20.50 degrees north latitude and 176.00 degrees east longitude. The sighting lasted between five and ten seconds.

The pilot and navigator reported that the object appeared as a hot blue streak that gradually changed to a dull red color. It traveled across roughly twenty-five degrees of arc in the sky, moving from bearing two-three-zero degrees to three-zero-five degrees (roughly west to north-northwest). The object was positioned high above the aircraft, visible from thirty degrees off the plane's bow to forty-five degrees toward the rear. The brightness was remarkable. According to the report, the streak was about four times brighter than Venus at its brightest moment in the night sky.

The object's most striking feature occurred at the end of the sighting. The pilot and navigator reported that it appeared to explode.

The Air Force's evaluation of this sighting appears in the case file as "Unknown," though internal notes indicate the description was "consistent with meteor analysis." No definitive conclusion about the object's identity is stated in the file. The full case file is reproduced below as held by the National Archives in 8 pages.