Apache UAP video, objects allegedly in a 70G turn

[TheCholla]

Lehto has recognized he cannot rule out birds, because we don't know the distance. I suppose they went for a distance of 1Nm or more assuming they were crafts, F-16s or else, as mentioned by the pilots. That gives you insane speeds of course.

But they are likely birds/bats, and I feel like they just overhyped this video to create excitement around their online conference. Sadly.

 

[Bear100]

A few random thoughts:

That training base is in a very busy air corridor, and midway between Phoenix and Tuscon. Ton's of aviation of all types. It's also very close to the US ADIZ border. The relevance of that is that is that three aircraft on radar but not accounted for would set off alarm bells in some tower or control center pretty quickly.

Could be bats, but my vote is for birds. The flight arc skirting the runway avoids the big loud helicopter lifting off. (Though having grown up on an USAF base, I'll attest to the fact that birds get accustomed to aircraft very quickly, much to the regret of both types of aviator sometimes.)

Plenty of nocturnal birds indigenous to the region: Nighthawks, nightjars, owls or best yet... goatsuckers (in Spanish that's "Chupacabra".... cue X-Files theme!) The erratic flight pattern wouldn't be odd for juveniles 'playing', mate competition or feeding behavior. (Most feed on insects caught in flight, like bats and swifts, not goat blood.) Citing this bit about the flight pattern of Nighthawks:

"With only a small window of time in which to find food, nighthawks forage continuously on the wing like swifts, swallows and the big brown bats that share the Okanagan's ample insect resources."
https://www.nwf.org/Magazines/National-Wildlife/1998/Goatsuckers-Get-Some-Respect

 

[henrikmorsing]

Not only is it possible, but it's by far the most likely explanation.

There's literally nothing in the video that goes against that possibility. And the motion of the objects looks very much like birds.

I saw the video af few times. Helped to see it stabilized and frame by frame. That is birds! Mind that the traffic controller actually controls the traffic and would properly not allow 3 F16s or A10s fly over the airspace of a departing helicopter. 3 birds just minding their business...