Redmond, OR: Police spots UFO, jets scrambled

Sighting and Pursuit

At 4:55 in the morning, police officer Robert Dickerson spotted a bright white light north of the airport in Redmond, Oregon, which descended rapidly, stopped abruptly, and hovered at about 60 metres. It lit up the juniper trees below. Dickerson drove toward it along the Prineville Highway and turned off toward the airport. The object changed to a reddish-orange colour and moved rapidly some 16 kilometres to the northeast, where it hovered again.

Observations and Reports

At the airport he reported in person to the FAA flight service station. Flight service specialist Laverne Wertz, Dickerson, and further witnesses examined it through binoculars as flat and round, with occasional flames at the edge. At 5:10 the FAA reported it to the Seattle Air Route Control Center, which passed it on to Hamilton AFB in California. Six F-102 jets were sent from Portland to intercept.

Military Response and Radar

Observers saw the object hover and emit long tongues of red, yellow, and green light that grew and shrank irregularly. As the jets approached from the southeast it changed to a mushroom shape, spat flames from below, and climbed rapidly above the clouds at around 4,300 metres. One jet turned aside to avoid a collision; another was thrown into a spin by turbulence. One jet's radar locked onto it, but the interception failed. It reappeared 32 kilometres to the south at 7,600 metres. At 6:20 Seattle Center reported radar contact 40 kilometres to the south; Klamath Falls radar (USAF) located a large target changing course and diverted a B-47 and an F-89. Redmond FAA lost visual contact; at 7:11 Klamath Falls still showed contact.