Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
A municipality on the northwestern coast of Puerto Rico, and the site of one of the most rigorously analyzed trans-medium UAP events on record. In 2013, US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel recorded a thermal infrared video of an unidentified object entering and exiting the Atlantic Ocean near Rafael Hernández Airport in Aguadilla, demonstrating aerodynamic and hydrodynamic performance characteristics that no known human-made vehicle possesses.
The 2013 Aguadilla Video
In April 2013, a US Customs and Border Protection aircraft equipped with a Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) thermal imaging system filmed an unidentified object near Rafael Hernández Airport. The footage, later released and analyzed by the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), documents the following behaviors over approximately three minutes:
- Flight speeds ranging from approximately 40 to 120 mph in atmosphere
- Entry into the Atlantic Ocean without significant deceleration
- Continued travel underwater at a maximum recorded speed of approximately 95 mph
- Emergence from the ocean and resumption of aerial flight
- At one point, apparent splitting into two separate objects before re-entry into the water
The SCU's analysis concluded that "no known aircraft, naval vessel, projectile, or human-made technology possesses these characteristics or capabilities." The event is cited by Rear Admiral Timothy Gallaudet in his 2024 white paper Beneath the Surface as a key example of documented trans-medium UAP activity.
Significance
The Aguadilla footage is significant for several reasons: it was captured by government equipment operated by trained federal personnel; it was analyzed using a methodology comparable to peer-reviewed scientific standards; and it documents trans-medium behavior — air-to-water-to-air transition — more clearly than virtually any other video evidence in the UAP record. The object's proximity to the Puerto Rican Trench — the deepest part of the Atlantic Ocean at approximately 28,000 feet — has been noted by Rear Admiral Gallaudet and other researchers as a potentially relevant geographic feature.