Four Corners - Large Disk Seen From Private Plane at FL210 [Irrigation Circles]

[Mick West]

[Image updated from the slightly blurry original]

Presented by Luis Elizondo at a UFO presentation today. Text says "FL210 Near Four Corners"

FL210 21,000 is a bit low for a commercial plane, but perhaps it was on approach or climb out.
[EDIT: my mistake, it was a private pilot, not a commercial plane]

My immediate though was two irrigation circles, but the white one seems not to line up with the roads

AI Transcript:

Lue Elizondo 00:00
The reason why I'm sharing this with you now is because I think it's important and relevant to this next conversation with these two individuals we'll introduce to you in a minute. Very relevant to this conversation.

Lue Elizondo 00:18
We talk about national security a lot, and our pilots, there are men and women in uniform. We're able to fight wars for us, combat. There's a whole sector out there that we also have to be cognizant of. That's our commercial pilots and civilian pilots, and they share with me a photograph that's never been made public. was taken in 2021 over the Four Corners region at an altitude approximately 21,000 feet, by a private pilot outside of his aircraft.

Lue Elizondo 00:44
And this is a photo. I'll give a copy for Congress to see. It was taken by a, we have all the information on the camera, and I just received permission today to share this with you. It is a lenticular object, and when you look at the shadow being cast. It is significantly large. It is at an altitude of 21,000 feet. taken by a civilian pilot.

Lue Elizondo 01:10
Now why is this important?

Lue Elizondo 01:19
[inaudible aside]

Lue Elizondo 01:22
This is taken from a civilian pilot, right? Not a FLIR system, not an infrared system, but an average person with an average camera at 21,000 feet. And the object, potentially is anywhere between 600 to 1000 feet in diameter. There's a particular object, and it is silver. Now I cannot vouch for the veracity of this photograph. I didn't take it, but this is an example of one of many, many, many incidents involving commercial and private pilots. And guess what? They don't know where to report it. Guess what? Congress has no idea that this has happened on a regular basis.

UPDATE: The irrigation circles have been conclusively identified by @MonkeeSage

I found it!

38.80712984537903, -103.94480941658462

Google Earth view:

Google Maps link:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/4LBYTY7wuJQWDfEU6

And earlier (independently) on Reddit by u/SwordThenSnow

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOB/comments/1kcgygk/comment/mq497fk/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

 

[Favious M]

Could be right with irrigation circles, is there the outline of a third to the right of the "disk"?

 

[Mick West]

There are irrigation circles near Four Corners

 

[flarkey]

looks like a radio telescope dish. it's hard to get any sense of scale.

 

[Mick West]

The problem with irrigation circles is that they change a lot in color/darkness over time, so if this is it, then matching it in GE might be tricky. However, it does appear to be two isolated circles.

 

[Mick West]

looks like a radio telescope dish. it's hard to get any sense of scale.

The nearest one ChatGPT could find is the Jansky VLA, which is about 220 miles from the Four Corners

 

[Mick West]

Better image:

 

[Favious M]

The roads seem to all miraculously avoid going under the "disk", just like the "shadow"

 

[Mick West]

And slightly enhanced,

Given the exact alignment with the roads, I think irrigation circles seem increasingly certain. I originally thought the lighter circle seems to overlap a road, but here is seem clear that the road simply ends there. Like it does in this example.

 

[Giddierone]

 

[jdog]

I was fussing around with Google Earth looking for candidate spots in the Four Corners region myself. It's fairly trivial to find locations with this optical illusion, especially if you convert the image to monochrome to eliminate the cues that the dark circle is vegetation.

Even more effective with a little blurring.

 

[Mick West]

This seems to be a photo of the handout photo from the panel.

The exact alignment with the roads is very clear here. And there's probably enough info to find it, with a bit of work.

 

[Ravi]

Was there any context given to this image by mr Elizondo, Mick?

 

[Mick West]

Was there any context given to this image by mr Elizondo, Mick?

Commercial pilot. That's all.

Sorry, a "civilian pilot" in 2021

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

Yeah it looks *very* similar to those irrigation circles. If that is what it is, it may still be difficult to find the exact ones on point-in-time satellite imagery given that they can change colors due to crop cycles and cycles of watering/not, and ones are added or abandoned over the years. You can see them change by scrolling through the history on Google Earth. Unless the roads or other features can be identified too.

 

[Mick West]

I think the darkness of the shadows on the curve of the river indicates the direction of the sun, which is different to the "shadow"disc

 

[Alphadunk]

Is it possible the image is displaying some level of horizontal distortion?

 

[Mick West]

Is it possible the image is displaying some level of horizontal distortion?

I think it's clear that it's viewed from a shallow angle, and that these are circles, not ovals.

It's unfortunate we don't have a better location, there's a lot of ground within 100 miles of the Four Corners.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Might this be the shadow of the aircraft taking the photo? Or a small reservoir/pond collecting water from a creek?

 

[NorCal Dave]

there's a lot of ground within 100 miles of the Four Corners.

A lot of it's just scrubland, mountains or Navajo land. The actual area farmed may be somewhat smaller, assuming "near" is something like 50-100 miles. If "near" is anywhere in one of the 4 states that border the region, not so much. While the colors may be different today, the layout should be the same. I would think the investment in infrastructure for wells, pumps and irrigation systems keep these things going for years.

EDIT: Quite a few in Navajo lands in New Mexico, east of Tuba City.

 

[FastIndy]

For if we ever find the location, or the plane:

I assumed 2500ft diameter which seemed typical-ish for the area.

~55,000 ft slant range, approximately 10.5 miles. ~10 mile horizontal range.

 

[Kyle Ferriter]

The sun would predominantly range from WSW-S-ESE, other than late in the day in the peak of summer when it could cross into N, right?

This doesn't appear to be it, but here is an example of two circles off by themselves without others directly around them, that are also next to a squiggly stream with a small pond at the bottom.

 

[Mick West]

For if we ever find the location, or the plane:

I doubt we'll find the plane unless the pilot tells us what it was, as 2021 is beyond the three year limit of the commercial ADBS trackers.

I think there's a reasonable chance the circles will be found.

 

[Haplo]

How quickly does the circles dry out and become hard to find, if ledt to dry out? Could a "dark" circle from 2021 be a dirt circle now?

 

[Mick West]

This doesn't appear to be it, but here is an example of two circles off by themselves without others directly around them, that are also next to a squiggly stream with a small pond at the bottom.

Funny, I found the same pair:

Quite a wide search area. The red circle here is 100 miles radius , 200 miles across.

 

[deirdre]

Funny, I found the same pair:

funny, ive been looking for the square shapes... wouldnt there sort of be general flight paths even for civilian planes? (that would be the same today) or.. can civies basically fly wherever they want?

 

[Eburacum]

Might this be the shadow of the aircraft taking the photo?

If the plane is flying at 21000 feet no shadow would be visible; you only get a shadow when the plane covers the sun completely, or almost completely, as seen from the ground. Airplane shadows disappear above about 2000-3000 feet.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Rotating the photo, we get the T intersection of 2 roads with one circle sitting in the 90 and the other across the road:

As this was 4 years ago, maybe new circles have been added since? Here are 2 that are similar in layout to the road:

36.594895, -108.375004

Though I found a few more of the same basic layout like this.

 

[jarlrmai]

OSM has (some of) the circular fields logged

 

[dead foot4]

Rotating the photo, we get the T intersection of 2 roads with one circle sitting in the 90 and the other across the road:

View attachment 79890

As this was 4 years ago, maybe new circles have been added since? Here are 2 that are similar in layout to the road:

View attachment 79891
36.594895, -108.375004

Though I found a few more of the same basic layout like this.

I noticed this grouping as well and it looks solid, but the gulch/river/creek doesn't seem to align with whats seen in the image.

I spent an hour or so this morning ripping through the greater four corners area in NM, and COL and couldn't find a street junction and gulch which align with the image yet. I'm going to keep digging in a bit. I agree with Mick - this is findable.

Side note but I also emailed GeoRainbolt as a bit of a hail mary to see if he would be able to trace this down. Doubt he replies of course.

 

[FastIndy]

funny, ive been looking for the square shapes... wouldnt there sort of be general flight paths even for civilian planes? (that would be the same today) or.. can civies basically fly wherever they want?

For the most part you can fly wherever you want, you're more likely to encounter restricted airspace in cities, but in the desert southwest US military training areas are also very common (and large). The FL210 = 21,000ft altitude, if correct, indicates this is a higher performance aircraft as you will need either a pressurized cabin or supplemental oxygen above 12,500ft.

 

[deirdre]

As this was 4 years ago,

mine is sketchy with changing dates..but if you download Google earth pro you can go back to some times and check. but your guy isnt straddling the road properly anyway. i only found one so far straddling the road in its middle but nothing else around it matched.

 

[deirdre]

The FL210 = 21,000ft altitude, if correct, indicates this is a higher performance aircraft

and the circles would be fairly small. thanks for all the info!

note: the only squares i saw , that could match, at 21000 feet were in colorado. at least what i consider "near the 4 corners" (and no, none of them matched exactly or even close really)

 

[Mick West]

wouldnt there sort of be general flight paths even for civilian planes? (that would be the same today) or.. can civies basically fly wherever they want?

Around there, yeah, pretty much.

This is filtered for 15,000 to 25,000 feet

 

[NorCal Dave]

I spent an hour or so this morning ripping through the greater four corners area in NM, and COL and couldn't find a street junction and gulch which align with the image yet. I'm going to keep digging in a bit. I agree with Mick - this is findable.

Let's not limit ourselves to the 4 corners area. The claim is coming through someone that tried to pass a ceiling lamp off as UFO mother ship. The I95 corridor of NV, northeastern California, central and eastern Oregon, Idaho, hell these circle crops are on the outskirts of Mexicali.

 

[FastIndy]

Is anyone familiar enough with ArcGIS or the like to be able to grid off the area so we can sign off and take responsibility for search inside of a particular zone? ChatGPT recommended SARTopo.

 

[MapperGuy]

How quickly does the circles dry out and become hard to find, if ledt to dry out? Could a "dark" circle from 2021 be a dirt circle now?

Crops circles can remain visible for decades. The ground surface texture within the circle is different from the ground surface around the outside the circle as a result of plowing and harvesting. The regularity of the outline, a perfect circle, and this difference makes them really stand out from natural features.

Look at Google Earth in areas where they are common, you will often see circles that have been abandoned but that are still easily identified. The uniformity of brightness within the circle, versus the irregular brightness outside will take a long time to be weathered away.

 

[MapperGuy]

People should keep in mind that the road grid we can see in that picture is based on the Township and Range system, the long straight roads are either north/south or east/west.

 

[Giddierone]

Elizondo's remarks, from [1:38:30] poor audio.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/live/_yFwUdbSpko?si=SyjonRR32jqXi4gb&t=5939

 

[Mick West]

With better audio, and the image inset