Caller reports a Pan Am flying boat appearing alongside their Cessna near Ukiah
A first-time caller named [name withheld], from Alameda, California, says they were flying a Cessna 172 back from Ukiah at about 11:30 p.m. in January 1998. They heard a voice over their headset, saw a glowing green light close on them, and lost control of the aircraft. Then they saw a large old Pan Am-type flying boat pull alongside and wave before vanishing. The caller links the aircraft to an M-130 Philippine Clipper they had read about in a book their mother had given them. The caller says it crashed in the Ukiah area on January 21, 1943. The caller says ATC reported no planes near them on radar. The call ends with the host calling it a ghost plane and asking whether it was a time slip or the crashed plane’s occupants.
This clip comes from the source recording. AI chose where it starts and ends, so it may start or end a little early or late. The word-for-word transcript is not published. You can hear the source recording on the Internet Archive (file “Ghost to Ghost 1999.mp3”, starting at 1:00:34). Is this you, or someone you know? Ask for a correction or removal.
The story as told
In a first-time call, [name withheld] of Alameda, California, says they are a commercial pilot who in January 1998 was building cross-country hours in small aircraft. They say they flew a Cessna 172 up to Ukiah to visit friends, left late, and departed about 11:30 p.m., climbing through about 3,000 feet. They report the cockpit became very cold, and that closing the vents and pulling the heater did not help. They say they were listening to a station called “960,” which they describe as an old 1940s station playing old music. Then they heard a voice over their headset say [quote withheld] They say they were alone and the communications radio was off. Turning, they say they saw a glowing green light closing from behind. They report the yoke would not move, the aircraft would not pitch down or turn, and they could not move. Then the cockpit lights dimmed. They say the light was gaining on them by about 60 or 70 knots, passed on their right to their 3 o’clock position, and became a huge flying boat of the old Pan Am clipper type. They report seeing a face in its cockpit window. The man waved, then the aircraft turned off and pulled away and vanished. After that they could hear things again, including the radio. They say they landed at Oakland Airport. They say their mother had bought them [quote withheld] a couple of weeks earlier. In it they found an M-130 Philippine Clipper, a Martin flying boat, that crashed in the Ukiah area on January 21, 1943, and they wondered whether it was the same aircraft they saw. They add that they later learned, while riding their bike at the old Naval Air Station in Alameda, that Alameda had been Pan American’s base for Pacific flights. They say they queried ATC on the way in, and ATC said it had seen no planes around them on radar. They say they do not tell people the story. Art calls it a “ghost plane.” The caller wonders whether the plane itself was in a slip of time or dimension, or whether it was the occupants of the crashed plane.
Reported events, in order
- 0:03
[name withheld] introduces themselves as a commercial pilot from Alameda, California, and says they were building cross-country hours in small aircraft in January 1998.
- 0:34
They say they flew up to Ukiah to visit friends, it got late, and they departed about 11:30 p.m. at about 3,000 feet.
- 0:46
They report the cockpit became very cold and stayed cold after they closed the vents and pulled on the heater.
- 1:00
They say they were listening to a station called 960, described as an old 1940s station, when they heard [quote withheld] over their headset, although they were alone and the communications radio was off.
- 1:22
They turned and report a glowing green light getting closer and closer behind them.
- 1:39
They report the yoke would not move and the aircraft would not pitch or turn. They say they could not move.
- 1:56
They say the cockpit lights dimmed and they became very scared.
- 2:06
They report the object, gaining about 60 or 70 knots, came around their right side to their 3 o’clock position.
- 2:22
They describe it as a huge flying boat of the old Pan Am clipper type, with four big radial engines, that pulled up alongside them.
- 3:02
They report seeing a face in the cockpit window of the other aircraft. The man waved, then turned off and pulled away.
- 3:08
The aircraft vanished and they could hear things again, including the radio.
- 3:13
They say they returned and landed at Oakland Airport, where they are based.
- 3:20
They recall that their mother had bought them the book [quote withheld] a couple of weeks earlier. In it they found an M-130 Philippine Clipper, a Martin flying boat, said to have crashed in the Ukiah area on January 21, 1943.
- 3:56
They say they later learned, while riding their bike at the old Naval Air Station in Alameda, that Alameda had been Pan American’s base for Pacific flights.
- 4:18
They say they queried ATC on their way in about any planes around them on radar, and ATC said no.
Claims
Each claim is labeled as something the person telling the story noticed (observation), what they made of it (interpretation), something others told them (hearsay), or something the host said (host statement).
- observation· 0:46
The cockpit of the Cessna 172 became very cold and stayed cold despite closing the vents and pulling the heater.
- observation· 1:08
A male-sounding voice said [quote withheld] over their headset while they were alone and the communications radio was off.
- observation· 1:22
A glowing green light approached from behind the aircraft.
- observation· 1:39
The aircraft controls would not move and the aircraft would not pitch or turn.
- observation· 1:56
The cockpit lights dimmed during the encounter.
- observation· 2:22
A large flying boat of the old Pan Am clipper type drew alongside their aircraft at their 3 o’clock position.
- observation· 3:02
The caller saw a face in the other aircraft’s cockpit window. The person waved and the aircraft turned away.
- observation· 3:08
The aircraft vanished and their hearing, including the radio, returned.
- hearsay· 4:18
The caller asked air traffic control whether they had seen any planes around the caller on radar, and they said no.
- interpretation· 3:51
The caller suggests the aircraft they saw may have been the M-130 Philippine Clipper that they read had crashed in the Ukiah area on January 21, 1943.
- host statement· 4:12
The host calls the story a mid-air encounter with a ghost plane.
- host statement· 5:02
The host offers a time-slip or dimension explanation, and separately asks whether it was the crashed plane’s occupants.
Scores, with reasons
An AI model gave these scores using a fixed set of scoring rules (scoring-v1). They are editorial judgments and rough guides, not the odds that anything paranormal happened. How scoring works.
A detailed, sequenced firsthand story with concrete times, aircraft types, a book title, and a dated crash. It holds together, and the caller does not go beyond what they say they saw, though they do not consider ordinary explanations.
Evidence for and against
- Concrete when and where: January 1998, about 11:30 p.m., about 3,000 feet, Ukiah to Oakland
- Specific equipment named: a 172 Cessna
- Answers to the host’s questions fit the story
- No backing of any kind (no second witness, no radar record produced)
- The caller does not address other explanations such as tiredness or expectation on a late-night solo flight
- Whether the caller’s “I couldn’t move” describes the aircraft controls or themselves
- The crash-date detail cannot be verified from the transcript
- 0:38
- 2:22
What the model inferred (not said on air): Component judgment: source proximity 21 (firsthand), specificity 17, internal consistency 15, alternative explanations 7 (ordinary explanations partly fit and the caller does not address them), calibration 8, for a total of 68.
Only the caller’s word is present. Specifics that could be checked (book title, crash date, ATC query) are given but not examined, and no physical evidence is claimed. This falls in the 11–25 range.
Evidence for and against
- Book title and crash date given
- Claimed ATC radar query
- No photograph, recording, or document produced
- No second witness on air
- The ATC exchange is secondhand and unverified; no documentation was examined.
- 4:18
- 4:26
What the model inferred (not said on air): Specifics that could be checked exist (a named book, a dated crash, an airport, a radar query), but nothing was checked on air.
A solo night flight in which the controls reportedly stop responding, the lights dim, and an enormous aircraft appears alongside is a genuinely unsettling scene built on helplessness and an intrusion into a confined space.
Evidence for and against
- Loss of control reported at altitude at night
- Lights dimming and fear stated
- Large aircraft closing at speed
- The reported figure waves rather than threatening
- No injury or physical harm reported
- It is not fully clear whether the “couldn’t move” passage refers to the aircraft controls, to the caller’s body, or both.
- 1:56
- 1:39
What the model inferred (not said on air): The setting (night, solo, altitude) and the loss of control drive the score. The wave and the vanishing at the end keep it below the highest scores.
A phantom aircraft is a recognizable kind of story, but this one combines it with an unusual set of specific details (Pan Am M-130 clipper, a book received before the flight, a wave from the cockpit, blank radar).
Evidence for and against
- The reported aircraft is a specific historic type with four radial engines
- The caller links it to a specific dated crash they read about
- The core motif, a ghost ship or plane appearing at night, is a common one
- No comparison with the rest of the archive is available in this request; the published value is provisional.
- 2:22
- 3:02
What the model inferred (not said on air): A familiar phantom-vehicle pattern. The distinctive elements are the specific 1940s airliner type, the caller’s earlier book, and the wave.
Scoring confidence 0.70 · analysis confidence 0.75 · checked against outside sources: no · evidence available: the caller’s firsthand story only; no physical evidence claimed or produced; claimed ATC radar query reported secondhand, not examined; a book title and crash date stated by the caller, not examined on air. The originality score blends the model's score (62) with how rare the story's details are across the archive. This method is still provisional.
Ordinary explanations to consider
These are possibilities only. None is a finding about what happened.
- Cockpit temperature: the reported cold could be a real heating or ventilation problem in a small aircraft at altitude at night, unrelated to anything else. · The caller says they closed the vents and pulled the heater and it stayed cold.
- Suggestion: on a late-night solo flight, listening to a 1940s music station and shortly after receiving a book about Pan American’s Pacific history, a person could be influenced in what they report seeing. The reported aircraft type and era match material they had recently been exposed to. · The caller describes the station as [quote withheld] and says the book was bought [quote withheld]
- Disorientation in night flight: losing sight of the horizon on a dark flight can create a mismatch between control inputs and how the aircraft seems to be positioned. That could account for the report that the yoke would not move or the aircraft would not respond. · The caller describes the flight as being at about 11:30 p.m. at about 3,000 feet and says the aircraft was not pitching down or turning.
What stands out
A ghost-aircraft story in which the reported ghost is a complete historic commercial flying boat tied to a specific dated crash. The caller says they had already been given a book about that airline’s Pacific history a couple of weeks before the flight. The reported figure aboard the aircraft acknowledges the caller with a wave rather than behaving threateningly.
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