CITY:
REGION:
COUNTRY:
DATE:

Kansai
Osaka
JPN
October 23, 2004

This paper summarizes the results of analyses of a video taken on October 23, 2004 approximately 50 km ESE of Itami International Airport, Osaka., Japan at about 1730 hrs by Mr. K. Amamiya while using a hand-held, Hi-8 digital camera. He was recording the over-flight of a commercial jet aircraft enroute to the airport. Unexpectedly a small, intense, yellow-orange-white silent light (hereafter referred to as unidentified aerial phenomena – UAP) appeared in the lower right-hand corner of the camera's digital display but was not seen visually. It traveled on an apparently linear path toward the upper left of the display at a relatively constant angular rate of travel; it remained visible for three minutes and then faded out. We discovered that: (1) the UAP was nearer to the camera than the aircraft, (2) the UAP was at least as intense as the wing tip lights on the B777-300 aircraft and did not appear to fluctuate in intensity to any great degree, (3) the calculated average height of the UAP was on the order of five feet and its image size tended to increase slightly during the first five seconds of the video, (4) the calculated angular velocity of the UAP was about 1.25 deg/sec. during the early part of the video, (5) it is likely that the UAP was emitting radiation in the near infrared since it was not visible to the naked eye, (6) the number of UAP imaged varied from one to three, and (7) the aircraft involved most likely was Japan Airlines flight 1521 from Tokyo. The real significance of this case lies in its aviation safety potential since no such unidentified object or energetic phenomenon should be flying in the vicinity of commercial air lanes. If this phenomenon was visible it might have been seen by the pilots causing some unplanned emergency operation or other disruptive response. This UAP remains unidentified at this time.