Combating Fatigue In Crewmembers
- Date
- Nov 1976
- Place
- USSR, Soviet Union
- Record
- Pentagon file
- Assessment
- Not assessed
- Evidence strength
What was reported
A November 1976 CIA Foreign Intelligence Information Report primarily about Soviet Aeroflot's aerospace medical research into crew fatigue (physical-conditioning programs, biological psychomotor testing equipment, prophylactoria rest facilities). Its only 'UFO phenomena' content, per the subject line, is that radiation biologist Dr. Oral Georgiyevich Akoyev explained cosmic-ray particles ('phosphenes') as the physiological cause of Aeroflot pilots 'seeing' flashes of light during night flights -- a physiological/perceptual effect, not an aerial-object sighting.
What officials concluded
Resolved
A Soviet radiation biologist attributed the pilots' light flashes to cosmic-ray particles (phosphenes) affecting the eye, a known physiological phenomenon, not an external craft.
- Agency
- CIA
- Released in
- 123456
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- Yes: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- Yes: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Why this rating The 'UFO phenomena' referenced in the subject line is explicitly a physiological/perceptual effect (cosmic-ray phosphenes) with a stated conventional medical explanation, not an aerial-object sighting.
As described in the file
- Witnesses
- Aeroflot pilots (unspecified number)
- Sensors
- Visual (self-reported perceptual flashes)
- Lights and colour
- Flashes of light
- Altitude or range
- Night flying
- Effects
- Physiological -- attributed to cosmic-ray-induced retinal phosphenes, not an external object
Pentagon files
CIA-UAP-012, Combating Fatigue In Crewmembers
Open the original on war.gov
On the map
55.00° N, 60.00° E, plotted at the centre of the country
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