- A Rebuttal ... (this was submitted primarily
for Daylight Saucer Video from
BC but it applies to this feature as well)
-
- From: Peter
5-27-4
-
- Hi Jeff,
-
- Just letting you know I think you guys are losing your
discriminative edge when it comes to UFOs. That "UFO" is a Mylar
balloon and not a flying saucer. I've seen them in the sky on several occasions
and what is shown in the video is exactly what they look like. Notice it
just goes up and up and twirls around nice and slow. Notice the edges are
those of a sealed, but partially inflated balloon.
-
- Since when does a typical Mylar balloon have the cord
at the bottom as the image illustrates? Not the kind I've seen. I'm not
talking about a Mylar balloon made to look like a UFO, I'm talking a regular
Mylar party balloon without a string. They are slippery and on more than
one occasion I had to return to the flower shop to get a new one as they
slip from the string rather easily if not tied well.
-
- I think this is a video of a typical runaway Mylar balloon
that is rather underinflated, thus giving a more "flattened"
appearance on one side. You can even see the creases in it. It's a balloon!
-
- You guys debunk "blurfos" but stand behind
this? Wow. Some of George Ritter's images are more compelling than this.
-
- But hey, whatever floats your UFO ;-)
-
- Peace,
- Peter
-
- P.S. Despite my critique of this, I do love your site!
You still have the best information available on the Web. Keep up the great
work!

Response... Mylar-ky!
Well, your
examples and graphics and logic are all admirable, but I still have to
challenge you on this, Peter. First, you've misunderstood one element
of my graphic, which is the 'commercial' mylar balloon on the left (I gave
a URL for an example of these, but I guess it was still a bit confusing
- my bad)... they are rather large (anywhere from 4 feet to 12 feet in
diameter) and have some kind of small fan/motor device as a gondola attached
to the bottom, which is also part of the balast to keep it level. The "string"
element would apply only to a mylar party balloon -- I wanted to
clarify that.
I was
not illustrating a "party" balloon. And therein lies the rub!
The videotape we have received to date of such silver ships cannot be mylar
'party' balloons as they would need to be extremely large to appear as
they do on the tapes; 20 feet or more. The typical party style mylar balloon
is usually no larger than about 3 feet in diameter. I've seen dozens of
detatched mylar party balloons floating in the sky, large and small. They
don't resemble these videos in the slightest. The size difference is one
aspect. Another is, an underinflated mylar party balloon -- much less a
large commercial balloon -- is not going to have the kind of altitude these
discs show on tape. These are clearly very large and too high up to be
small party balloons, even when zoomed in. You are also at hand dismissing
the eyewitness account. I see no reason to do that unless you know something
we don't about this person and their claims. Also, I have yet to ever see
a mylar party balloon maintain, even for a short distance, level, horizonal
status. They always tip up on edge and usually stay that way, short
of a few strong gusts that might make them tumble end over end. That's
just plain ole' fashioned helium physics. Additionally, a mylar balloon
so deflated would tend to bend and buckle on itself.
What we're seeing in these videos are silver discs that
are remaining horizontal, that turn and pitch and right themselves again.
Release a few underinflated mylar party balloons and see what you get.
They drift off turned on edge, just as they are designed to do (usually
because there is a message printed on them) and even if carried aloft to
a reasonable altitude (which usually won't happen), they will stay that
way, looking like... well... an escaped mylar party balloon.
Now here's one that might freak out a lot
of people!!!
This is a special weather balloon
Mylar Balloon Tests
Pat U of Venice CA recently decided to buy a few Mylar
balloons and put them to the video test. He launched a large backyard "flying
disc" type of toy as well as a typical mylar party balloon. The video
footage not only demonstrates the dissimilarity between the UFOs captured
on videotape (above), but also confirms that the size of such balloons
would have to be rather immense to produce the kind of difficulty in focus
and distortion on video represented by extreme altitude and distance from
the camera. These demonstrations lay the mylar balloon argument to rest.
Mylar balloons look like mylar balloons. Flying saucers look like flying
saucers! While there are certain undeniable similarities... its silver,
its round or disc shaped, its airborn, the two videos are distinctly different.
From Pat Uskert - His Mylar Balloon Experiments
- A few people have suggested to me that the UFO I videotaped
over Venice, CA on May 2nd, 2004 is most likely a mylar balloon. I find
this amusing, because what they are actually saying is that I don't know
what a balloon looks like. As my girlfriend also saw the UFO, they
are also suggesting that she has the same problem.
-
- I will attempt to vindicate myself. I have conducted
a balloon test to show people what an airborne mylar balloon looks
like with the hope that they will compare the mylars
to the Venice UFO and see that the UFO has very different properties
from those of a mylar balloon.
-
-
- On June 12th, 2004, I set out to perform the test. I
purchased two mylar balloons and went down to the exact same location where
I saw the UFO on May 2nd - the intersection of Rose and Hamilton Avenues.
Although five weeks had passed since the original sighting, I made
sure that conditions were as similar as possible, with the sun high
over head in midday position. A friend of mine held the
balloons, walked across the street, and waited for a signal. I
turned on the video camera, gave the signal, and the balloon tests began.
-
-
- First we launched balloon 1 - the big UFO shaped balloon.
This balloon was designed and decorated by the manufacturer to have the
appearance of a UFO. We released the balloon and videotaped it for as long
as we could.
-
- Then we launched and videotaped balloon 2 - a smaller,
rounder mylar balloon, commonly used for celebrations and parties.
-
- The result of these tests can be viewed in the two
MPEG clips I have presented. I invite everyone to take a close
look at what a mylar balloon looks like and to decide for themselves.
Even at great distance, seen with the camera's zoom lense, they are
clearly balloons and not anomalous.
-
-
- The Venice UFO, however, had too many properties that
were difficult to explain: rapid rotation, movement independent of the
wind, extreme change of direction, and a fuzzy distortion around the craft
at times. I would have to say that mylar balloons, at whatever distance,
clearly look like mylar balloons. The UFO-shaped balloon became
flimsy with increased altitude as the air pressure around it
decreased. Both balloons twirled and bobbed frequently, moving irregularly
with the afternoon breeze. They did not look like solid stainless
steel, but rather like metallic inflated bags.
-
- The most remarkable difference between the mylar objects
and the Venice UFO was that of size and distance. The Venice UFO was visible
as a dark spot even at extremely high altitude. It's metal surface gave
off a brilliant reflection at over 1,000 feet, whereas the mylar balloon
did not. This seems to indicate the disc was large, although
how large I can't say. There was no reference for its size. The balloons,
on the other hand, were out of visual range in a only a
few minutes. We simply could not maintain visual contact due to their small
size.
-
-
- But enough of my rambling on. Please enjoy the clips
and watch for yourself. If there is anything unsatisfactory about these
tests, please let me know at LAUFO.com. I will be more than happy
to release and videotape more mylars, because I know that no matter what
I do, mylar balloons will have very different properties from the UFO filmed
over Venice on May 2nd, 2004. Of that I am absolutely certain.
-
- Best wishes to all and enjoy the show!
-
- Pat Uskert
- Venice, CA
- LA UFO.com
Click HERE to see Pat's tests |