Flyby Footage
The Flyby Footage is a 20-second video clip depicting a disc-shaped UAP traveling alongside a jet aircraft, uploaded to YouTube on May 14, 2008 by user Danny Lampkin. The footage has been characterized as one of the most enigmatic and potentially significant pieces of publicly available UAP evidence, with analysis suggesting it may have been captured from inside a military aircraft— specifically a NASA F-18A variant— based on camera positioning, reflections, and wing configuration visible in the frame.
Technical Characteristics
The footage is a Second-Generation Recording— someone filmed a computer screen playing the original footage— which degrades quality and introduces artifacts but also preserves certain analytical details. Visible reflections in the cockpit glass appear consistent with a Gentex MBU-23P Pilot Respirator Mask, suggesting military aircraft origin. The wing view matches an F-18 Super Hornet filmed from the port side, and the empty missile wing tip pylons are consistent with the NASA F-18A Chase aircraft configuration, which features an interior-mounted camcorder behind the pilot seat.
Audio waveform analysis reveals the audio track does not cut at a visible footage cut point, indicating the audio represents ambient noise from the screen recording environment rather than original cockpit audio. Some analysts have compared the audio characteristics to ambient sounds recorded aboard the USS Nitze during the 2019 spherical UAP water entry event.
Craft Description and Historical Context
The UAP depicted in the footage is disc-shaped with a prominent upper protrusion described as resembling "half of a ping-pong ball," matching descriptions provided by Robert Jacobs in his warhead shootdown footage testimony. The craft also bears strong visual similarity to the famous McMinnville UFO photographs from 1950. The object flies at an angle rather than level— a characteristic noted by Bob Lazar, who claimed recovered alien craft fly "belly towards their destination."
Alleged Leaked Document Connection
An alleged leaked classified document that surfaced online in 2021-2022, purportedly a section from a classified appendix of a UAP Task Force report, allegedly classifies the flyby footage as "high value witness testimony" within Appendix F, Section 4B titled "DOD 1992 through 2017 High Value Witness Interviews." If authentic, this designation would indicate the U.S. government considers the footage to represent genuine military UAP documentation of significant evidentiary value.
The document lists the footage in a "Behavioral Data Analysis" section alongside research contributions from K Shakoya, M. Harmon, S. McCaron, and Hillary S. McCaron, with analysis purportedly conducted by joint elements of ONI, NSA, DHS, and DOD SAP-cleared experts. The document's authenticity remains unverified.
Public Statements by Officials
Luis Elizondo stated in a 2021 GQ interview that the U.S. government possesses UAP footage far more compelling than the publicly released Pentagon videos, including clips showing UAP within 50 feet of aircraft cockpits. Chris Mellon similarly stated he had viewed footage of a UAP positioned immediately adjacent to a pilot. These statements align with the characteristics of the flyby footage, which shows a UAP approximately 10-15 feet from the aircraft canopy according to alleged cockpit communications logs associated with the incident.
Authenticity Questions
The footage's quality and dramatic nature have led to skepticism, with some dismissing it as CGI or a model. However, as of the video's analysis, no definitive CGI analysis has been completed, and the footage's technical characteristics— including camera positioning, reflections, audio waveform behavior, and craft morphology consistent with historical accounts— present a complex case that remains unresolved.