Hawaiian ‘UFO’ Sighting

Kenny Biddle

January 29, 2021

Share
Tweet

On December 29, 2020, an unidentified flying object was filmed (and reported) in the sky over the Hawaiian island of O’ahu. The anomaly was reported as a glowing blue oblong mass that eventually landed in the ocean. There was no fire, explosion, or even a great splashdown from the impact. In fact, it seems the landing was rather a gentle one, with the lighted object floating on the surface of the water. Hawaii News Now, a local station, covered the sighting two days later on December 31.

As you can imagine, the news segment went viral almost immediately. Various affiliate news stations picked up the story and started racking views, such as ABC7, which has over 893,000 views as of this writing. Likewise, many YouTube channels from UFO enthusiasts latched onto the story, believing it to be “real evidence” of alien spacecraft. Andy Signore (2021), who runs the YouTube channel Popcorned Planet, starts his review of the footage with “This UFO sighting seems legit!” Another channel, The Hannibal TV, associated this footage with the previously released “UFO” videos (nicknamed Flir, Gimbal, and GoFast) released by the U.S. Navy (Hannibal 2020).

The most popular video shared across the internet is actually two videos cut together. The first was taken by Misitina Sape as she stood on the corner of Haleakala Avenue and Farrington Highway in the Nanakuli area on Oahu Island. It was approximately 8:26 p.m. when she started taking video with her phone, which only lasts about eleven seconds, with only seven seconds of it showing the object in frame. In the video, we see a small sliver of blue light in the night sky. Sape also turns the camera to show the street corner where she is standing (this helped me locate exactly where she was). This first video has the camera pointed south, along Farrington Highway toward Black Rocks Beach Park. The object appears motionless, almost like it is a balloon gently floating in the sky. 

The second video, edited together with Sape’s, shows the lighted object after it had landed in the ocean. This video was shot by a woman identified only as Moriah and has a duration of about fifteen seconds. According to an interview, Moriah and her husband had followed the object until “they stopped the car on Farrington Highway in front of the Board of Water Supply building after the object appeared to drop into the ocean” (Blair 2020). This puts her just over two miles north of where Sape filmed the first video. Based on her location and camera view of the ocean, Moriah’s camera is pointed southwest. This puts the two witnesses at a distance of over two miles from each other. 

According to Hawaii News Now, the local police were called, who in turn contacted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Ian Gregor, an FAA spokesperson, stated that “the agency received a report from police 

Tuesday night about a possible plane down in the area but had no aircraft disappear off radars. And no reports of overdue or missing aircraft” (Blair 2020). I contacted the Honolulu Police Department, asking whether there was additional information available or if the mystery had been solved. I received a response from Michelle Yu of the HPD Media Liaison Office, which stated, “Unfortunately, we do not have further information on the sighting.”

I turned my attention to the videos themselves. From the start, nether seem to be high resolution: even the street sign close to the first witness is blurry and pixelated. This only gets worse when the video is zoomed in on a small object in the night sky and is continually shaky, which results in nothing more than blurry streaks of blue pixels. In the second video, which is also of low resolution, we see a slightly closer image of the object on a black background of the ocean water at night. Unfortunately, this video is also highly pixelated and doesn’t show much more than an illuminated “worm” shape. It does appear to be rising above the surface of the water, like a ship’s mast, with intermittent reflections of the object off the surface of the water as the swells change the angle of reflection. After watching both videos several times, there seems to be little, if any, movement of the object. 

One of the witnesses (Moriah) claims the object was about the size of a telephone pole (Blair 2020), which would be about thirty-four to forty feet in length. However, because the object in the video is unknown, we cannot accurately determine the distance or size of the object. In both videos, the object is against a black background—at first, the night sky, then the blackness of the ocean at night. The “UFO” does not come near, pass in front of, or go behind any known objects, making it very difficult or impossible to accurately determine its size.  

My first impression was that I was looking at a paraglide. According to Wikipedia, “paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure” (Wikipedia 2021). The wing is often a curved rectangular shape, which can span the length of twenty-six to thirty-nine feet. This shape is an approximate match for what is seen in the video and described by the witnesses. As you can see by the included image, these wings can be illuminated, giving off a bright glow. 

I reached out to Raimar Bylaardt II, a certified paragliding instructor and owner of Hawaii Paragliding (Bylaardt 2020). He responded, “Paragliders are not allowed to fly after sunset (as per FAA), and flying at Nanakuli depends on sun energy to create thermals (updrafts), and it is typically flown on rare, non-windy days in O’ahu. The (UFO) reports show it going into the ocean. If it were a paraglider with motor (a.k.a Paramotor), people would likely hear its engine, and they have enough control to avoid a water landing, which would very likely result in death of the pilot, because of the heavy motor, lines, etc.” Being aware that flying at night is forbidden—not to mention potentially life-threatening—it is unlikely that a paraglider (or paramotor) pilot was the cause. 

Another possible cause of the “UFO,” suggested by Raimar Bylaardt from Hawaii Paragliding, is that of a balloon or perhaps several illuminated balloons strung together. It’s really not a strange idea; balloons have been popular decorations for birthday parties, weddings, gender reveals, and other special occasions. In recent years, balloons illuminated by LEDs have become an affordable choice that literally lights up the event. We can speculate that several balloons (strung together) may have gotten loose and rose into the sky over O’ahu, only to have a few of them burst as the helium inside expanded. This would cause the tethered group to sink back down, gently landing in the ocean just offshore. When we look at the alleged UFO videos provided, the object actually appears motionless, though this is most likely an illusion caused by the shaking of the camera and the object’s distance. 

I moved on to my “go to” resource for everything UFO-related: Metabunk.org run by author and CSI Fellow Mick West. Lucky for me, a discussion was already well underway. The consensus of members concluded the object could be a kite equipped with LED lights. West provided several videos demonstrating both tethered kites and radio-controlled (RC) versions that performed tight turns and movements that resembled an eel in water. The aerial movements of the RC kites do not match what we see in the “UFO” videos, plus the sound of the motors was apparent, making the RC version a less likely option. West also provides videos of larger kites in the classic triangular shape that had LED lights across their underside and produces various illuminated patterns. It’s possible that a fixed-wing kite was being flown high in the sky about the island and either the operator lost control, or the kite broke loose, eventually taking a nose-dive into the water. 

As I worked on this piece, I periodically checked for any updates. I even reached out to the original reporter, Allyson Blair, to see if she could tell me anything more, but she had received no additional information either. Sadly, this little mystery could not be completely solved, much to my dismay. But sometimes there’s just not enough information available to come to a solid conclusion. We, as skeptical investigators, are often forced to go with what is “most likely, based on the available evidence” instead of the preferred “this is definitely it.” The principle of Occam’s Razor often provides the most likely explanations but all analyses are of course limited by the information available. One hundred percent definitive evidence is often hard to come by, especially in cases of ambiguous lights of unknown size seen in the night sky. 

For me, the most likely identity of the mysterious object is either a kite or balloon, illuminated by LEDs. One of the witnesses, Moriah, who watched it land in the ocean, stated that “she never heard it make any sound” (Blair 2020). This information further supports the idea of a kite or balloon, because both objects would be mostly silent during their flight and landing (offshore). Until I come across additional information, this will be my “most likely” conclusion. 

Even though this case hasn’t been solved, we could at least narrow down the possibilities, while filtering out others. There was nothing extraordinary about the sightings or videos that would cause me to consider this was an alien spacecraft: no aliens/bodies were recovered, no strange debris washed up on shore, and the object didn’t try to hide. I mean, if it was a spaceship piloted by aliens trying to avoid detection, they likely would not have been flying above a populated island with the lights on. 

 

Kenny Biddle

Kenny Biddle is a science enthusiast who investigates claims of paranormal experiences, equipment, photos, and video. He promotes science, critical thinking, and skepticism through his blog I Am Kenny Biddle. He frequently hosts workshops on how to deconstruct and explain paranormal photography. Email – parainvestigator@comcast.net