UFO HUNTERS - Hist. - UFO Dogfights

History Channel - Original Air Date: 4/16/08

The show starts with a US Air Force pilot being skeptical about "dogfights" with UFOs -- pointing out that to have a dogfight, both craft have to be trying to shoot down the other.  As I watch, I expect this will be the last bit of skepticism in this show.  Next up is the story of an Iranian UFO encounter (3 years before the revolution), in which the (actual) F4E pilot describes and encounter with a UFO that shot balls of light toward his aircraft.  The equipment on the plane malfunctioned, and -- just in time -- the UFO broke off and he was able to escape.  Though he believes the UFO followed him until he touched down, with the UFO "crashing" nearby.  Of course, all the info about this crash is rumor, innuendo, or "classified."  The team runs tests but, as usual, they do it to prove the story rather than actually investigate what may have happened.  The point is to "prove" that what the witness described is beyond the capabilities of human technology, therefore, it must be of alien origin.  The hypotheses of optical illusion or electromagnetic anomalies, or other theories less outlandish than alien invaders, are -- as usual -- ignored.  They then set up an EMP which shorts out a computer panel and, as in the sighting, the panel then returns to life after the pulse.  (Which proves exactly nothing.)  Four years later, in 1980, an other UFO "dogfight" took place over Peru.  In this case, the pilot of the F-18 fired on the UFO, but the bullets seemed to pass right through.  More "experiments" prove -- again -- that the UFO encountered performed maneuvers impossible for terrestrial craft.  Again, the hypothesis that UFOs are not craft at all remains unexplored by this show.  The show does, however, make the fact that the US Air Force had a report on this incident seem very important.  Clearly, if the Air Force heard about it, it must be real?  Personally, I'd like to see the gun camera footage for these incidents -- but such shots are never mentioned.  (Were they not available on craft this old?)

If you want to hear amazing UFO stories, this show the thing to watch.  If you want truth, or hard investigation, or good science, forget it.  This show is not about truth; it's not even about hunting UFOs -- they never get near a UFO; it's about building mythology.  Or, perhaps, building circulation for UFO magazine.