Severe UFO Encounter Over the Pacific Gulfstream Pilot Reports UAP at 47,000 ft

On August 18, 2022, a Gulfstream G650 operating over the Pacific west of California reported unusual luminous objects above the aircraft at Flight Level 470. The aircraft was operating from Miami toward Maui, and the crew included a retired U.S. Navy/Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot who was serving as the corporate flight department's chief pilot. The encounter was reported to ATC and later documented in a NUFORC sighting report. The available evidence does not identify the objects.

The sighting

NUFORC records a report from the pilot of a Gulfstream G650, callsign TWY670, stating that at approximately 03:20 local time on August 18, 2022, the aircraft was at FL470 off the California coast when the crew observed two objects in a circular formation. The report says additional objects appeared during the encounter.

The published sighting account places the aircraft west of Los Angeles while it was operating toward Maui and gives an approximate encounter time of 12:17 a.m. Because aviation records can use different time references, the published record retains the reported date, altitude and general location rather than converting the observation into an unsupported universal timestamp.

What the pilot reported

The NUFORC account identifies the reporting pilot as a 52-year-old retired F/A-18 pilot and tactical-jet instructor who was then a corporate chief pilot. He reported observing multiple luminous objects well above the Gulfstream. The report records the phenomenon as unexplained and lists a possible Starlink explanation for consideration, not as a confirmed identification.

Other published discussion of the ATC recording describes the objects as a group of lights and notes that the pilot reported several of them moving in a circular pattern. Those observations remain witness reports rather than independently verified physical characteristics.

No confirmed identification

Nothing in the available records establishes that the objects were aircraft, spacecraft or another specific technology. The appropriate factual conclusion is that a qualified flight crew reported unusual lights at high altitude and that the observation remains unidentified. The flight continued safely.

What the sighting record actually establishes

An unidentified object is a description of an observation, not a conclusion about its origin. The reported altitude, crew observation and ATC response can be described without assigning the object an extraterrestrial or advanced technological origin.

The incident record describes a Gulfstream operating at Flight Level 470 over the Pacific and a subsequent exchange with air traffic control. The crew considered the objects unusual enough to report, but the record does not provide a verified identification, radar track, physical evidence or independent investigation finding.

“First 2 then 5 total UAP well above FL470”

Accident Facts

The available sources use different time references; no single exact clock time is asserted here beyond the NUFORC local-time report.

Sources

• NUFORC: UAP sighting database / Pacific report
• NUFORC: Witness-report database