Pilots reporting unidentified aerial phenomena and the organisation of professional circumspection

This article describes a conversational sequence by which commercial airline pilots report unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) to local air traffic control. Analysis shows how the sequence is organised to address possible reputational risk associated with reporting UAP and contributes to work on the communicative competences by which reporters of extraordinary events establish the factual status of their claims, the objectivity of the claimed phenomenon and their reliability as reporters. The data are recordings of pilots interacting with air traffic controllers collected by aviation enthusiasts and UAP researchers and posted on YouTube. Conversation analysis was used to examine the turn-by-turn development of the UAP reporting sequence, focusing on turn design procedures and the underpinning normative frameworks. The analysis is framed in relation to social science research on UAP/UFO experiences and concludes by outlining how this work can contribute to studies of aviation communication and the emerging science of UAP studies.