UFO Pendulum Motion.

[Karl12]

Would recommend this interview with NASA's Dr Richard Haines and like many other scientists (and governments) over the years he's been quite busy cataloging 'global UFO characteristics'.

When it comes to UFO flight behaviour (and pattern recognition) it also looks like there are quite a number of reports of unknown objects performing a kind of 'pendulum' or 'falling leaf' motion during vertical descent or ascent

Peculiar behaviour such as falling leaf or pendulum motion during vertical descent has been independently reported many times by UFO witnesses in widely separated parts of the world..

Know I keep on saying it but it's pretty disturbing just how much UFO content has now been deleted from the internet - some of it gets archived so (for posterity) below are some related articles, reports and speculation dealing with UFO 'pendulum' or 'falling leaf' motion - alternate links are provided where possible.

NASA's Paul Hill goes into some detail below about specific UFO flight characteristics and there's a relevant section here taken from NICAP's 'UFO Evidence' report.

Pendulum/Falling Leaf Motion

A curious, but fairly common, flight characteristic of UFOs is a pendulum-like motion (swaying back and forth) during hovering, slow climb, or descent. Witnesses frequently have compared this to the gyrations of a falling leaf.

Side-to-Side Oscillation

A very similar pendulum-like motion, occurring as a UFO travels in a horizontal plane (rather than ascending or descending) has been noticed occasionally. It consists of a side-to-side oscillation as the UFO proceeds in a constant direction.


SECTION XII - PATTERNS

• Paul Richard Hill - NASA Aerodynamicist:

Maneuvers. Hovering at any altitude is common. UFOs hover close to the ground for long times instead of landing. The different maneuvers include:



a. falling leaf or UFO-rock like a coin falling in water

b. silver-dollar wobble - like a coin with a slow spin on a flat surface. This maneuver is consistently observed at the end of a rapid descent as the UFO initiates hovering

c. acute-angle turn with rapid stop at the vertex

d. sudden reversal of direction

e. bank and turn - exactly like conventional aircraft

f. straight-away speed run either horizontal or vertical

g. tilt to maneuver "UFOs tilt to perform all maneuvers ... they sit level to hover, tilt forward to move forward, tilt backward to stop, bank to turn"

UFO Research of NASA's Paul R. Hill.

UFOCAT - the massive sighting database compiled by Dr Hynek's CUFOS organisation also used to have lots of open info on the subject but unfortunately many links are now defunct.

The UFOCAT documents 180 instances of pendulum or “falling leaf” maneuver by UFOs. In two of those instances (Reports Number 16,982 and 87,715) the maneuver is executed in reverse. The UFO falls like a leaf UPWARDS before accelerating away. UFOs are perfectly capable of going straight up or down. Belgian radar recorded a drop by a UFO of 3,000 feet in 2 seconds. So why the occasional pendulum or falling leaf motion?

UFOCAT Link / PDF

Also a nice section here on falling leaf pattern from Otto Binder's (marvellous) book 'What We Really Know About Flying Saucers'.

Falling Leaf Pattern


Remarkably consistent, described over and over the same way by countless witnesses, is the "falling leaf" (or"dead leaf") manner of a UFO's losing altitude when it wants to descend a short way. This is often during the time it is approaching the ground for a landing, or for low-level and treetop flight.


Outstanding examples are:



• September 26, 1954, Col du Chat, France . Fifteen people saw a disc like an "inverted plate" that was descending "like a falling leaf."


• February 24, 1958, Salvador . Three people observed a hemispherical UFO descend from 90 feet to 9 feet above the ground by imitating a "falling leaf."


• September 20, 1952, Topcliffe, Yorkshire, England. Following a Meteor-Jet, a silvery disc descended with a "pendulum motion


• July 1957, Azusa, California. A disc-shaped UFO with a row of amber lights on its rim descended with a "wobbling motion."


• December 25, 1960, Cottonwood, Minnesota. A family observed a hemispherical ball slowly flutter down like a "falling leaf."


E-Book

[Karl12]

This witness described a solid, oval shaped UFO moving back and forth with 'a pendulum like motion' - September, 1973 (pdf also has nice article on UFO performance characteristics).






PDF File:

NICAP UFO Investigator - Dec, 1973














The motion was also reported by Police Officers during the 1966 Michigan 'swamp gas' flap which led to the incredibly familiar sounding 1966 US Congressional UFO Hearings.

Here's one of the officers drawing a nice sketch:

• "It would swing back and forth like a pendulum, then shoot upward at tremendous speed, hover and then come down just as fast."

Washtenaw County deputies B. Bushroe.

Link

Also this Norwegian policeman who went fishing on his day off.

UFOs have been seen performing pendulum or falling leaf motions throughout history. I added two examples after this Norwegian account.

[Maxmars]

This is a very important element of the record of this observed phenomena.

Frankly, with as common and repeatedly observed flight characteristics in the past, isn't it curious that none of the recently 'disclosed' footage never seems to conform to that pattern?

I have experienced a few sightings of my own, and never did they display the pendulum, or 'falling leaf" behavior.

Yet many accounts seem to share that feature.

Questions, questions, and more questions.

[Karl12]

One from way back in 1947 - Spokane, Washington, July 5th.

Providence Journal, Providence, USA, page 3, on July 6, 1947


Eight flying saucers were reported today to have made a landing on a mountainside near St. Maries, Idaho in full view of 10 persons.

Mrs. Walter Johnson of suburban Dishman said the saucers came down in timber there Thursday evening but had not been reported until she returned to her home in Dishman today.

The saucers were seen to fall near Butler's Bay on the St. Joe River six miles west of St. Maries, where Mrs. Johnson was visiting her parents.

She said they came into view at an extreme speed, traveling from the south to the north. Suddenly, they slowed, she said, and then "fluttered like leaves to the ground."

"The mysterious part was that we couldn't see them after the landing," said Mrs. Johnson. "We could see them flutter down into the timber, yet we couldn't see that they did anything to the trees."

Both the CAA and the Army Air Corps officials were notified of the incident but no immediate plans for an air search of the area were announced.

Link

Pendulum or falling leaf maneuver also taken from multiple witnesses involved in the French UFO flap of 1954:

FOUR PEOPLE FOLLOWED WITH THEIR EYES THE MYSTERIEUX CRAFT


A new worthy of faith testimony comes to be added to the Gard file on "flying saucers". One of these mysterious machines was seen Sunday evening, around 8 p.m., at the fall of night above the Saint-Felix point, in Anduze, behind which it seemed to land.

It is our fellow-citizen Mr. Edmond Nicetta, brother of the famous foot runner, fishmonger, street Benoit-Malon, who was the principal witness of the fact. He was on the terrace of the house of his mother-in-law, Mrs. Brodarier, in company of this relationship, Mrs. Nicetta and Mr. Marcel Alméa, when their attention was drawn by a bulky circular mass which seemed to rotate, presenting gleams alternatively blue and red.

The craft was then approximately motionless above the Saint-Félix point; but it soon started to go down with a slow rocking movement, like a falling leaf, and disappeared soon behind the point, which is a high hill. The appearance had lasted several minutes..

1954 French UFO Flap Catalogue

Amd this one from the French flap involving a doctor's car experiencing EM effects.

1954 – Dr. Robert, driving through Baillolet, France at nightfall, saw four objects flying slowly in echelon formation at about 300 meters altitude. One of UFOs dropped abruptly to the ground with a falling leaf motion, landing only 100 meters away. The witness felt an electric shock as the engine and headlights of his car died, and his car stopped the moment the object touched the ground. Incapable of moving, Dr. Robert watched as a figure about 1.2 meters (4 feet) tall moved around in the light of the object, then all went dark. Some time later the headlights came back on by themselves, and Dr. Robert saw the craft take off toward the north.

Source: Aime Michel, Flying Saucers and the Straight Line Mystery, p. 185.

[Karl12]

This is a very important element of the record of this observed phenomena..

Thanks for the reply mate and if there's one thing this phenomenon generates it's 'always more questions' lol.

Granted this 'falling leaf' maneuver (if that's what it is) isn't observed all the time but there are plenty of global reports describing it and apparently government officials have also taken note of it.

There's one specific case below known as 'The Topcliffe Incident' which apparently helped cause the British MOD to officially recognise the UFO subject.

This incident also received serious attention from top CIA officials and the 'Dr Jones' referred to in their document has a truly interesting background (forgive the long post but it's always nice to have the info all in one place).



• The Topcliffe sightings from Yorkshire, England, 1952 where several RAF Officers witnessed a rotating, silver, disc shaped object performing a 'swinging, pendulum motion' - there's also a CIA document about the incident mentioning the 'creation of the correction of public opinion', whatever that means..

RAF Sightings: Huge, Round, Metallic, Incredibly Fast.


British authorities have received reports from trained observers, including RAF pilots, and the Air Ministry maintains a UFO investigation project which parallels Project Blue Book in the United states. Reuters reported one such aerial encounter on September 20, 1952:

"A flying saucer entered the eight-nation Baltic area maneuver headquarters that an unidentifiable silver circular object had been sighted 15,000 feet above the airfield. The object, which appeared five miles behind a Meteor jet fighter (piloted by Lt. John W. Kilburn), maintained a slow forward speed before descending in a swinging pendulum motion. Then it began a rotary motion about its own axis and accelerated at an incredible speed in a westerly direction but later turned southeast. It was seen by RAF officers and men on the airfield."

Another RAF pilot encountered a UFO October 4, 1954. Flight Lt. J. R. Salandin of the 604th Fighter Squadron, flying a Meteor jet out of North Weald, Essex, nearly collided head-on with a huge, metallic-appearing object. The UFO was shaped like two saucers pressed together, one inverted on top of the other. At the last second, it flipped to one side and streaked past a tremendous speed. Two round UFO's had been sighted speeding between two other Meteor jets in the vincinity just before Lt. Salandin's sighting.

The TRUE Report On Flying Saucers

CIA Document:

September 19th, 1952.

A British Meteor jet aircraft was returning to the airfield at Topcliffe, Yorkshire, England, just before 11 A. M. As it approached for landing, a silvery object was observed following it, swaying back and forth like a pendulum. Lieutenant John W. Kilburn and other observers on the ground said that when the Meteor began circling, the UFO stopped. It was disk-shaped, and rotated on its axis while hovering. The disk suddenly took off westward at high speed, changed course, and disappeared to the southeast.


'• British Activity in the Field of UFOs':


"In some RAF field, there was some sort of demonstration to which high officials of the RAF in London had been invited. During the show, a 'perfect flying saucer' was seen by these officials as well as RAF pilots. So many people saw it that many articles appeared in the public press. This is distressing to [Dr] Jones because he realises that the creation of the correction of public opinion is a part of his responsibilities."

Link

Further details from Jan Aldrich's (awesome) Project 1947 website which provides more information on the Topcliffe incident - the 'restricted' report states how the object began 'a rotary motion on its own axis' but only after 'the pendulous motion and descent had ceased' - it then goes on to state how the UFO 'suddenly accelerated at incredible speed':

RESTRICTED

SIGNAL SENT YESTERDAY FROM 18 GROUP TO HEADQUARTERS COASTAL COMMAND.


..OBJECT WAS SILVER IN COLOUR AND CIRCULAR. IT MAINTAINED SLOW FORWARD SPEED BEFORE COMMENCING DESCENT. SWINGING IN PENDULAR MOTION LIKE A FALLING SYCAMORE LEAF. THOUGHT BY OBSERVERS TO BE PARACHUTE OR COWLING FROM METEOR AIRCRAFT. AIRCRAFT HAD TURNED TOWARDS DISHFORTH AND OBJECT, WHILE STILL DESCENDING, APPEARED TO FOLLOW SUIT. THE PENDULOUS MOTION AND DESCENT CEASED AND OBJECT BEGAN A ROTARY MOTION ABOUT ITS OWN AXIS, SUDDENLY ACCELERATED AT AN INCREDIBLE SPEED IN WESTERLY DIRECTION BUT TURNING TO A SOUTH EASTERLY COURSE. OBSERVERS STATED THAT ITS MOVEMENTS WERE NOT IDENTIFIABLE WITH ANYTHING THEY HAD SEEN IN THE AIR AND ACCELERATION WAS IN EXCESS OF THAT OF A SHOOTING STAR. DURATION OF INCIDENT 15 TO 20 SECONDS."

Sign Historical Group

[Karl12]

'Actual unknown' incident taken from BlueBook files - Otis Air Force Base on October 10th, 1952. 

Communique sent to Air Defense Command:

There is a report for that date from Otis AFB, approximately 80 nautical miles southeast of Nashua. The time of the sighting isn't clear, as it was reported as being sighted between 6:30 and 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, but was also reported as lasting 15-20 minutes. The Project Blue Book file consists primarily of a telex from Otis AFB to several recipients, including Air Defense Command, Project Blue Book, and the Directorate of Intelligence in Washington D.C., the relevant portion of which reads...


(1) OBJECT APPEARED TO BE A BLINKING WHITE LIGHT THAT FLEW UPWARD THEN STARTED A PENDULUM LIKE ACTION FOR APPROX 20 MINUTES AND THEN SHOT STRAIGHT UP PD THE OBJECT MOVED AT A TERRIFIC RATE OF SPEED PD OBJECT MADE NO NOISE AND SHOWED NO MEANS OF PROPULSION (2) SIGHTING TIME WAS FROM 2330Z TO 0030Z ON 10 OCT 52 PD (3) OBSERVED VISUALLY PD (4) OBSERVED FROM PORCH OF AIRMEN'S BARRACKS AT OTIS AFB CMA FALMOUTH CMA MASS FOR APPROX 15-20- MINUTES PD (3) PERSONS MAKING OBSERVATION WERE THREE AMN...

Link / Documents: PDF

Pendulum motion also reported in the Father Gill case from Papa New Guinea, June, 1959 - apparently the priest was 'dumbfounded'.

Father Gill's log of events and a summary report by his colleague, the Reverend Norman Cruttwell:


"Another peculiar thing was this shaft of blue light. which emanated from what appeared to be the center of the deck. The men appeared to be illuminated not only by this light reflected on them, but also by a sort of glow which completely surrounded them as well as the craft. The glow did not touch them, but there appeared to be a little space between their outline and the light.. . . ''

Father Gill described the movements of the objects, especially the smaller disks, as very erratic. They sometimes moved rapidly, sometimes slowly, approaching and receding, changing direction, and at times swinging back and forth like a pendulum. One object moved away and appeared to descend toward Wadobuna village, and everyone thought it was going to land. The Papuana ran down on the beach, but the object swooped up and away over the mountains, turning red as it disappeared.

Link

[Karl12]

Another very strange account from Colombia in 1963 (the whole linked article is well worth a read)

Castillo worked then as an engineer with the Costa Rican Electrical Company and was at the volcano with his boss and another engineer. Suddenly, around 6 p.m., they noticed what they first thought was an airplane, which was then joined by two other objects flying very close to the mountains. As one came near them, they saw it was disc-shaped with a dome; it descended in a falling leaf-like motion to few meters above the ground. “Suddenly there was like a tremendous high frequency sound which almost blew my ears,” said Castillo, “but I was unable to move… I noticed that I was paralyzed.”

Costa Rica UFO Dossier – Pt 2

Pendulum UFO motion reported again in New Orleans during the October 1973 UFO wave.

• “We stopped the patrol car and got out. The object moved as a pendulum on a clock, then it would travel at a fast rate of speed in a northerly direction. Then back and forth. After each spurt of speed. It would stop and move as a pendulum again.”

* New Orleans, Louisiana. Daily Record. 17th October, 1973.

News-clipping collection:

Some UFO Notes By Loren E. Gross

Taken from Scott Corrales' great research into the extremely freaky island of Puerto Rico.

• Anomalous Phenomena Map:

Four weeks later, corrections officer I. Simonetti was walking back to his home in the Barrio Obrero section of San Juan, when he casually took notice of an object in the sky which he first believed to be a kite. Focusing upon it, he realized that the brass-colored object was swinging in a pendular motion (characteristic of UFOs) before taking off in a northerly direction. Simonetti noticed that people on the street were shouting among themselves and pointing at the sky.

'Puerto Rico: Saucers in the '70s'

1987-1997 Puerto Rico's Incredible Decade

PDF File:

Puerto Rico Plagued By Gas And Torchlight - Gordon Creighton (1974)

[Sirius]

Mimicking nature is doing physics in the most efficient form, there is no errors involved. It's computerized flight with high pression, the craft isn't steered as much as directed to perform an action. So a declarative system.

[Karl12]

Mimicking nature is doing physics in the most efficient form, there is no errors involved. It's computerized flight with high pression, the craft isn't steered as much as directed to perform an action. So a declarative system.

Thanks for the post mate and your input is most welcome, have come across quite a bit of speculation about the physics behind the motion - whether it's an aspect of technology propulsion, a use of natural magnetic/gravity fields, a misinterpretation of something else (like a spiral) from the observer's perspective etc.

Don't know what's going on really but looks like scientific conjecture about UFO flight characteristics goes way back into history - here's 'the father of modern rocketry' Professor Hermann Oberth discussing it back in the early fifties (interesting to note he was also 'mentor' to NASA Nazi Dr. Werner von Braun).

• "The appearances are usually described as disks, sometimes as balls or ellipsoids. It sometimes happens that these disks place one upon the other, the largest in the center, the smaller toward the ends, to form an object the shape of a cigar, which then flies away with high speed. Sometimes one already saw such a cigar (UFO) stopping and untie into separate disks. The disks always fly in a manner as if the drive is acting perpendicular to the plane of the disk; when they are suspended over a certain terrain they keep horizontal; when they want to fly very quick, they tilt (tip) and fly with the plane directed forward. In sunlight, which is brighter than their own gleaming, they appear glittering like metal. They are dark orange and cherry red at night, if there is not much power necessary for the particular movement, for instance, when they are suspended calm. Then, they also do not shine very much. If more driving power is necessary, the shining increases (brightens) and they appear yellow, yellow-green, green like a copper flame and in a state of highest speed or acceleration extremely white. Sometimes they suddenly blink or extinguish.Their speed is sometimes very high, 19 km/sec has been measured with wireless measuring instruments (radar). Accelerations are so high that no man could stand it; he would be pressed to the wall and bruised. The accuracy of such measurements has not been doubted. If there would be only 3 or 4 measurements, I would not rely upon them and would wait for further measurements, but there is existing more than 50 such measurements; the wireless sets (radar) of the American Air Force and Navy, which are used in all fighters, cannot be so inaccurate that the information obtained with them can be doubted completely".

Professor Hermann Oberth, pioneer of rocketry - mentor to Dr. Werner von Braun.

Source: Appendix III: Prof. Hermann Oberth notes on UFOs Lecture Notes About Flying Saucers 1954 - translated lecture notes obtained by Paul Norman from Drs. Blumrich and Ferdie, at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.

Link / Quotes

[Sirius]

Thanks for the post mate and your input is most welcome, have come across quite a bit of speculation about the physics behind the motion - whether it's an aspect of technology propulsion, a use of natural magnetic/gravity fields, a misinterpretation of something else (like a spiral) from the observer's perspective etc.

Don't know what's going on really but looks like scientific conjecture about UFO flight characteristics goes way back into history - here's 'the father of modern rocketry' Professor Hermann Oberth discussing it back in the early fifties (interesting to note he was also 'mentor' to NASA Nazi Dr. Werner von Braun).

That doesn't sound like anything being controlled to me, more programmed to move from point A to B.  So it's all "drones" then?  The greys are just some kind of construct that is projected out. Spooky stuff.

I bet the control station is under ground.