Incredible visual phenomena, classified military operations, or alien beings? I have to go with the first two. In addition to having over 25,000 hrs flight time, I probably have an equal amount of time working outdoors in remote regions around the planet, much of it at night. Many of those nights were in California or Nevada either inside or near the Nellis AFB range complexes, Desert and Reveille MOAs, Tonopah, Fallon, Indian Springs, Twentynine Palms, Barstow, and Edwards AFB. My flight time is split roughly 80% airline pilot, 10% military, and 10% GA. Most of my military time was in the F-15 and F-4. In both environments, I’ve experienced countless visual phenomena and incredible events, most of which I could not explain at the time. Not one of these events, however, ultimately led me to conclude that I had seen anything alien, i.e., something not from this solar system.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/features/reader-mail/top-letters-and-comments-august-11-2023