2002 · Bagram, Afghanistan

Bagram Airborne Triangle (FBI PURSUE file)

On the record

Strength C · 5/10

Evidence 3/4 · Witnesses 2/3 · Backing 0/3

A released FBI interview record documents a pilot's firsthand account of the triangle, but he is unnamed and no 2002 report or statement from the second pilot exists.

Plausibility Moderate

Score 9 · 7 factors for, 1 against

A pilot's firsthand account in a released FBI FD-302 with a rendering; unnamed, and the second pilot hasn't spoken.

See the factors ↓

Unresolved

WhenJune 2002 (interview March 2024)

WhereBagram, Afghanistan

An FBI FD-302 released by the Department of War on 7 August 2026 (PURSUE Release 05) records a March 2024 interview with a pilot whose name is redacted. Most of the interview concerns white lights he says he and other pilots saw from airliner cockpits in October 2023 to February 2024. The last page describes a "third event" from June 2002. He was a reservist activated to Afghanistan, and one night at Bagram, around 04:30 local time, he and another pilot watched stars being "blacked out" by something very large and silent. It was shaped like an equilateral triangle, carried no visible lights, and crossed overhead from west to east. A companion file, FBI-UAP-D025, is a digital rendering of that description made for the release. The FD-302 is a primary government record of firsthand testimony, but it is the only record. No 2002 report, radar data or statement from the second pilot has been released, and the witness's name and unit are redacted.

How plausible · Moderate

A pilot's firsthand account in a released FBI FD-302 with a rendering; unnamed, and the second pilot hasn't spoken.

●●
Access A military pilot at Bagram.
●●
No gain sought Told to the FBI.
●●
Checkable details check out FD-302 and rendering released.
●○
Character record Official interview record.
●○
Independent convergence Fits the triangle pattern; other pilots saw lights in 2023-24.
●○
Fits the documented skeleton Part of the PURSUE record.

Against

−
Lone source, no corroboration The second pilot hasn't spoken.

Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.

On the record

p.1: The witness "was referred to the FBI by [redacted]". He was told who the agents were and why they were interviewing him. The interviewer and location are redacted.
p.1–2: From October 2023, "a lot of pilots" saw lights in the sky, usually between midnight and 3 AM. His first sighting was on a Boston–Dublin flight at 37,000 ft, looking northeast towards Gander. The lights were white, brightened and then faded over cycles of 10 seconds to one minute. He rejected landing lights, "Starlink, Starlink flares, satellites, or meteors". By the time of the interview he had seen them about ten times, three of them towards North Dakota.Colorado Springs: black triangle with red corner lights emerging from a "pixelated" cloud (October 2023)Colorado Springs: low, silent, "almost see-through" triangle over a back porch (October 2023)
p.2: In February 2024 he filmed lights on a Samsung Galaxy S22 from the cockpit, about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis, at about 04:36 EST. At the 5:22 mark of the video the panel showed about Mach .80 and a position 40–50 miles northeast of Sioux Falls. The video itself is not in this release.
p.2–3 (the Bagram event): "A third event … occurred back in June 2002." He "got activated to go to Afghanistan" as a reservist. One night he "was outside looking at the stars with another pilot. At approximately 4:30 AM local time, [he] noticed that the stars were getting blacked out over Bagram. It appeared as if something huge went overhead, from west to east, and was an equilateral triangle shape. The object was moving silently, at a consistent speed and altitude, possibly 150 knots, with no lights visible." He "estimated it was 500 feet in size, but he could not fully see the shape of the object." The other pilot "also observed the triangle, and when it passed over stated, 'did you see that?'"Colorado Springs: black triangle with red corner lights emerging from a "pixelated" cloud (October 2023)Colorado Springs: low, silent, "almost see-through" triangle over a back porch (October 2023)Massive low black triangle with three white corner lights, seen from a driveway (June or July 2011)
p.3: He "did not further discuss the sighting with anyone else nor did he hear anyone else discussing the sighting." A redacted passage follows. He "never found information that could explain what he saw in Afghanistan" and was "not aware of anything that would explain what he had seen."
Footer, p.1: "This document contains neither recommendations nor conclusions of the FBI." The file contains no FBI assessment.

Claims

A silent, unlit triangle about 500 ft across passed over Bagram at about 150 knots in June 2002 (chain: witness → FBI agents (March 2024) → FD-302 → war.gov release)Colorado Springs: black triangle with red corner lights emerging from a "pixelated" cloud (October 2023)Colorado Springs: low, silent, "almost see-through" triangle over a back porch (October 2023)Massive low black triangle with three white corner lights, seen from a driveway (June or July 2011)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedby the redacted witness pilot

A second pilot saw it too and said "did you see that? (secondhand. Only the main witness reports this, and the second pilot is unnamed)secondhandSourced, unconfirmedchain: second pilot → witness's memory → FBI FD-302. No statement from the second pilot exists in the record.

Pilots widely saw unexplained lights from October 2023 onward (chain: pilot discussions (venue redacted) → witness → FBI)Colorado Springs: black triangle with red corner lights emerging from a "pixelated" cloud (October 2023)Colorado Springs: low, silent, "almost see-through" triangle over a back porch (October 2023)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedby the witness

The rendering in D025 shows what was seen (chain: witness description → FBI artist → war.gov)analysisSourced, unconfirmedby the FBI or the PURSUE releasers

The same black triangles seen over Belgium and Phoenix are still flying.Phoenix LightsspeculationSourced, unconfirmedbelievers