Dr. Steven Greer likes to suggest that he is in regular contact with extraterrestrials who are visiting Earth. Kindly, if for a price, Greer offers to train others in his “close encounters of the fifth kind” contact “protocols.” But is Greer really in contact with unidentified flying objects or what the military refers to as unidentified aerial phenomena?
Well, like the U.S. military, I’m very confident that some UFOs are true unknowns not belonging to China, the United States, or Russia. That said, I’m not convinced these objects are what Greer is seeing or communicating with. A Jan. 27, 2015, Greer “contact” event in Florida offers a case in point.
That date saw Greer leading an expedition at Vero Beach on Florida’s east coast. Greer’s website says that his weeklong expeditions come with a “tuition fee” of “$2,500-$3,500 depending on facility costs.” The website explains that “all of the Ambassador to the Universe trainings are similar. All participants are expected to complete and return liability release, confidentiality agreement and Ambassador Agreement, which will be sent after they have paid and registered.”
Back to Jan. 27, 2015, when Greer’s expedition claimed to have summoned two UFOs.
Video of the sighting was posted to Greer’s YouTube channel, and the incident was the first case listed on the “photographic and video evidence” page of Greer’s website. The video introduction says the “event” occurred between 9:10 and 9:15 p.m. and “was a result of an invitation initiated by the members using coherent thought and meditation practices, also known as, CE-5 protocols.” The video description states, “There were NO boats or ships seen anywhere in the area of the objects and there were no jets or planes or other airborne objects anywhere near the objects before, during or after the event.”
That’s not true. But let’s not jump the gun.
The video starts with one bright orange light appearing off the coast. Greer is heard directing a participant to “please turn off your night scope.” Note that a night scope would assist in detecting low visibility aircraft in the vicinity. Shortly thereafter, a second light appears off the coast, to the left of the first light. Greer confirms that these are indeed UFOs.
“I’m looking with the night scopes. There’s no smoke. There’s no trails. These are not flares,” he continues. “They were waiting for us to arrive.” A few seconds later, Greer implores his group, “Let’s welcome the beings on board to join us in meditation. That is such a beautiful color — see, you’ll never forget that color,” he says. “This is huge,” one participant says. Greer agrees, “Yes, this is a major event.” At the 3-minute, 32-second mark, the first light disappears. Ignoring the lights’ slow but obvious altitude decline, Greer states that “they’ve stayed pretty much the same altitude, though. … Let’s invite them to come as close as they can.” At the 4:11 mark, the second light dissipates. While the second light is quite obviously above the water as it fades out, Greer quickly states, “Oh, that’s gone into the ocean. See what it did?” Greer concludes, “Now the way that you know that’s not like something like a flare, first of all, it didn’t shoot up and then come down.” The video fades out. We then see a series of other photos and videos of the same event.
But were these UFOs? Or were they something more terrestrial?
Well, FlightAware flight tracking data attained by the Washington Examiner suggest the latter is true. At 9:11 p.m. on Jan. 27, 2015, a Beech 76 Duchess registered N110SU was recorded flying at 85 mph off Vero Beach. This is slower than the aircraft’s normal cruising speed and would feasibly allow the aircrew to deploy parachute flares or some other illumination device. The aircraft took off and returned to the airport in Fort Pierce. The screenshot below shows the aircraft’s location at the time of the “event.”
The owner of the aircraft is listed by the Federal Aviation Administration as Ari Ben Aviator, Incorporated. The website of the Fort Pierce-based flight school, Aviator College of Aeronautical Science and Technology, lists Michael Cohen as its president and CEO, and “the Owner and only President of Air Ben Aviator, Inc. since its inception.” The website explains that Cohen “has 33 years of experience with managing a successful flight training school in all areas including advertising and recruiting.” The distinction between “Air Ben Aviator” and “Ari Ben Aviator” seems to be a spelling mistake. Florida state business records list Cohen as the owner of both the Aviator College and Ari Ben Aviator.
When I reached out to the Aviator College to ask about the Jan. 27, 2015, flight, Director of Maintenance Christopher Speer told me that the college never does things like dropping flares. After sending Speer a copy of the flight record, he did not respond to any further emails. Incidentally, another aircraft listed to Ari Ben Aviator was forced to land on a section of Interstate 95 in Florida on Jan. 30, 2017, after running out of fuel. CNN has also reported that Ari Ben Aviator received a loan between $350,000 and $1,000,000 under the federal government’s coronavirus relief Paycheck Protection Program.
The top line, however, is that the flight was in the place and time that the witnesses saw the lights. I’d thus offer a pretty confident assessment that what was seen off Vero Beach that night were not UFOs but, in fact, flares of some kind. Watch the video recording of the Jan. 27, 2015, incident below.
