Disclosed

FD-302, “Airborne Lights and Triangle,” 2002, 2023-2024

Date
2002; 2023-10/2024-02
Place
Northeastern U.S. airspace (Boston-Dublin route, near North Dakota, off the west coast, mid-Atlantic coast); Bagram, Afghanistan
Record
Pentagon file
Assessment
Not assessed
Evidence strength
467 case pages by decade; this one falls in 2000s with 16 othersAll cases

What was reported

FBI FD-302 recording a March 2024 interview of a commercial/reservist pilot who says that starting October 2023, numerous pilots on a messaging channel began reporting recurring white lights seen at cruising altitude between midnight and 3am, cycling from dim to bright over 10 seconds to a minute, in one-to-four-light clusters that moved independently and sometimes in straight lines; the witness captured cockpit video of such lights near North Dakota in February 2024 while at Mach 0.80. He separately recalled a June 2002 incident near Bagram, Afghanistan, in which he and a second pilot watched a silent, light-less, equilateral-triangle object roughly 500 feet in size blot out stars as it crossed overhead at low altitude.

What officials concluded

No conclusion stated

The file gives no official explanation.

Agency
FBI
Released in

Evidence profile

Sensors3 of 9
  • Visual
  • Infrared
  • Radar
  • Video
  • Photo
  • Film
  • Audio
  • Night vision
  • Other sensor
  • Rendering
Witnesses1 counted
  • Civilian
  • Military aircrew
  • Military ground
  • Airline crew
  • Sensor operator
  • Law enforcement
  • Scientist
  • Astronaut
  • Intelligence official
  • Other
ShapeTriangle
  • Light only
  • Orb or sphere
  • Disc
  • Triangle
  • Cylinder
  • Cube
  • Other shape
Effectsnone reported
  • Physiological
  • Physical trace
  • Electromagnetic
  • Sound
  • Silent

Why this rating Two independent pilots co-witnessed the 2002 Bagram triangle, which exhibited large size, total silence and no lights at low altitude with no conventional explanation offered; but it remains a purely visual sighting with no sensor corroboration, and the 2023-24 lights, while video-documented, are single-witness and at extreme range/altitude that limits characterization.

As described in the file

Witnesses
1 primary witness (reservist/commercial pilot, firsthand) reporting a wider community of pilots seeing similar lights; a second, unnamed pilot co-witnessed the 2002 Bagram triangle
Sensors
Visual, cockpit video captured on a personal smartphone (Feb 2024 event)
Shape
Clusters of 1-4 point lights (2023-24 events); a silent equilateral triangle, approx. 500 feet, no visible lights (2002 Bagram event)
Size
2002 triangle estimated at roughly 500 feet
Lights and colour
White, dim-to-bright cycling
Motion
Lights sometimes stationary, sometimes moving in straight lines with direction changes, uncoordinated; the 2002 triangle moved at a consistent speed/altitude, estimated around 150 knots
Duration
Individual light cycles 10 seconds to 1 minute; full sightings lasted 45 minutes to 2 hours; the 2002 triangle passage duration not specified
Altitude or range
Witness at 37,000 ft estimated the 2023-24 lights at 50,000+ ft, 200-500 miles distant; the 2002 triangle was low-altitude, close overhead
Effects
Witness never felt unsafe and stated the lights were not within 100 miles of his aircraft

Pentagon files

2
  • DocumentFBI-UAP-D024Release 5

    FBI-UAP-D024, FD-302, “Airborne Lights and Triangle,” 2002, 2023-2024

    Open the original on war.gov
  • ImageFBI-UAP-D025Release 5

    FBI-UAP-D025, Digital Rendering, "Airborne Triangle," 2002

    An FBI-commissioned digital rendering, "Airborne Triangle," illustrating a June 2002 sighting above Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, based on the first-hand account of a former military service member recorded in the paired FD-302 (FBI-UAP-D024). Per that FD-302, the witness -- a reservist activated to Afghanistan -- was outside with another pilot around 4:30 AM local time when the stars were "blacked out" by a silent, equilateral-triangle-shaped object, roughly 500 feet in size, moving west to east at a steady speed (possibly 150 knots) with no visible lights, seen by both men. The same FD-302 also records two other sightings by the same witness (recurring lights seen from commercial flights beginning October 2023, and a February 2024 cockpit video of moving white lights over North Dakota); the digital rendering illustrates only the 2002 Bagram triangle.

    Open the original on war.gov

What the file claims

2
  • Unverified

    The witness and other pilots have repeatedly observed clusters of one-to-four dim-to-bright cycling white lights at very high altitude since October 2023, which he does not believe are Starlink, satellites, or meteors.

  • Unverified

    In June 2002 near Bagram, the witness and a second pilot saw a large, silent, light-less equilateral triangle blot out stars as it crossed overhead.