Oklahoma, 2003: UAPSRS Case No. 182
CASE STATUS: Resolved (see “Additional Info” field for details)
| Country | United States |
| State or Province | Oklahoma |
| City | Tulsa |
| Date | 10/13/23 |
| Time | 7:35 PM CDT |
| Weather | Clear |
| Duration | 3 minutes |
| Witnesses (Number) | 1 |
| Distance | Unknown |
| Solid Object | Yes |
| Size | Larger than a star |
| Shape | Unknown |
| Shape Details | White light with halo surrounding it |
| Metallic/Shiny | No |
| Color | White |
| Glow/Halo | Yes |
| Lights | Yes |
| How Many Lights | 1 |
| How Bright | Slightly brighter than surrounding stars |
| Light Coloration | White |
| Sound | Unknown |
| Motion/Speed | Object created arc to the east before disappearing. |
| Number of Objects | 2 (Pilot and First Officer) |
| Coordination/Communication | Not Specified |
| Windows | No |
| Occupants | No |
| Description | On October 13th, 2023, a Senior Captain with one of the large U.S. commercial airlines (who requested their information be kept private) was flying from Kansas City International Airport to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Southeast of Tulsa, they noticed an unusual air traffic ahead that did not appear on TCAS. The secondary witness, the spouse of the primary witness, shared photos of the anomaly along with information about the flight number and route. |
| Nearby Landmarks | Southeast of Tulsa |
| Latitude | 36.153982 |
| Longitude | -95.992775 |
| Altitude | Not Specified |
| Propulsion | Halo |
| Advanced Capabilities | Not Specified |
| Visible Payload | Not Specified |
| Radar | Not Specified |
| Signatures | Not Specified |
| Awareness | Not Specified |
| Aggression | Not Specified |
| Health Effects | Not Specified |
| Physical/Environmental Effects | Not Specified |
| Animal Disturbance | Not Specified |
| Witness Feelings | Witness was impressed when object “shot out/created the arc”. |
| Witness Assessment | Witness could not explain the anomalous object, which was not detectable on the aircraft’s TCAS. |
| Additional Info | CASE STATUS: RESOLVED. Rationale for case resolution: Images and flight details provided by secondary witness were successfully correlated with a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, which occurred on Friday, October 13 at 7:01 Eastern Time. The launch sent 22 Starlink satellites into low-Earth orbit on the evening of the sighting. The “rings” of smoke that were produced by the object (referred to by the witness as a “glow” or “halo” surrounding the object) are the exhaust from the Merlin 1D engines on board the rocket, which has been known to produce similar ringlike vaporous formations before in the past. Several ground-based observers on the same evening filmed and photographed the rocket, providing a near-perfect match for the object in the images provided by the secondary witness. UAPSRS concludes with high confidence that the anomaly was a Falcon 9 rocket launched from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. |
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