Veteran Air Traffic Controller On Dealing With Stranger Things In The Sky
Makes you feel like they are just keeping things from you."
That’s how Colin Scoggins describes the U.S. military’s response to a potential unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) sighting during his time with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at Boston Air Route Traffic Control Center. Scoggins is now retired, but his recountings of various instances when he and his colleagues saw mysterious blips on their radars or heard reports of other sightings are timelessly intriguing.
Scoggins began his career with the U.S. Air Force, working on fighter jets like the F-4 Phantom as a crew chief. Once he got out, he started school at West Virginia University and slung drinks part-time at a local bar to pay the bills. It was at this establishment that he happened to meet three air traffic controllers (ATC) who were working the tower at Morgantown Municipal Airport in the spring of 1981.
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With over three decades of experience working for both the military and the FAA, Scoggins isn’t short on stories. Retellings ranging from some of the first RQ-4 landings to his hand in the tragic United 93 flight are just a couple of the career-defining moments that Scoggins could share, but his experience with strange things that occurred in or near the nation's airspace is nonetheless notable. While some were either quickly or gradually debunked, the happenings still act as unique insight into how the FAA and the military handled UAP sightings, especially prior to 9/11.
In terms of UAP protocol, Scoggins explained that his department had a relatively standard requirement to report anything they had seen or received accounts of to the team's supervisor who would then pass it along to the operational manager. He said it was also procedure to report it to the military, and for Scoggins, that meant contacting the Northeast Air Defense Sector (NEADS).
"Understand most controllers are a certain personality," Scoggins said. "Normally we are controlling individuals. We like to control pretty much everything and none of us have any patience. I still don’t have any patience today after being retired for six years."
Sometimes, though, Scoggins said that a particularly busy day would only warrant an acknowledgment of a possible incident before time constraints would require that the team moved on. Others would lead to dedicated investigations.
"As far as how most controllers feel if they are real, I think most think they are," Scoggins said. "And whether they believe they are not from our world, I am sure there are a few. I would think most believe they are probably from our world and probably our own government."
He added that there was a small percentage of conspiracy theorists among the ATCs, just as there are in the general public, who will believe what they want to believe. Although, he doesn't recall ever being told not to report his findings, nor did he think that any controller felt as though their job was in jeopardy if they did.
"I had three instances I can think of,” Scoggins said. “One of them was definitely a meteor smashing into the ocean. One pilot saw it and thought it was a UFO. Another guy that was flying at a 90-degree angle from him saw it and said, 'No, it's definitely a meteor that went right to the ocean.' So we could write that one off."
Meteors are often mistaken by onlookers as UAPs or UFOs. The chunks of cosmic rock both big and small hurdle through space all the time, sometimes entering the Earth’s atmosphere and emanating a fiery glow as they burn up. This can also cause the meteor to break apart, eventually becoming multiple pieces so tiny in size that it essentially vanishes into thin air. These characteristics could lead many to believe they had just seen a UFO despite it being a common celestial occurrence.
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