Two ROK Air Force F-4s circle a glowing object near Daegu
During the Team Spirit exercise on the night of 31 March 1980 two South Korean F-4 Phantoms were sent toward a bright light near Daegu. It jumped to Yeongil Bay and stopped, and the jets circled it: an oval as big as an airliner, ringed with lights and shooting out golden or welding-blue flames. Neither aircraft nor ground radar saw it. Both senior pilots, one later a major general, told the story on the record; it left over the East Sea.
How plausible · High
Two named senior officers, one later a major general, give consistent firsthand accounts decades apart of circling a lit oval; no document is produced.
- ●●Access They flew the intercept.
- ●●Cost of speaking Named senior officers in national media.
- ●●No gain sought Nothing sold.
- ●●Character record A squadron commander who became a major general.
- ●●Independent convergence Two pilots independently.
- ●○Consistent over time Core consistent; details vary.
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.