On September 23rd at 12:37 AM the FAA issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM). These warnings are common — they let pilots know real-time changes not on charts or radar that might affect air safety. On any given day, major airpots might have dozens of NOTAMs. Runway closures, tower navigation errors, weather hazards — there are any number of reasons NOTAMs are issued.
But this one was different.
The NOTAM issued by the FAA just after midnight on the 23rd stated as its reason, “national security”.
This means the US government is involved. Typically it’s because the Department of Defense or Homeland Security needs to protect something sensitive — the President suddenly flying in the airspace or threats of terrorism on critical infrastructure. But there were no VIP’s flying and there was no terrorist threat. The incident on the 23rd was simply this: Something crashed. And for some reason, the US government wanted nothing flying over the site until they had a chance to clean it up.
The NOTAM issued that night imposed a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) covering a five-nautical-mile radius around the crash site, and up to 15,000 feet in the air. There was no other reason provided beyond "national security." No property damage was reported, and the NOTAM emphasized there was no public impact. Nothing to see here — except no one is allowed to see it, thank you very much.
The location of the crash was listed as Alamo, Nevada, near Mormon Mesa. The Temporary Flight Restriction centered roughly 57 miles northeast of Creech Air Force Base, approximately 12 miles east of the security perimeter of Groom Lake. Of course, if you’re at all obsessed with UFOs, your senses just woke up. Groom Lake is a dry salt flat in Nevada that serves as the airfield for the classified military installation known as Area 51.
For those not obsessed, Area 51 became synonymous with aliens back in 1947, when there was a different mysterious crash, this time in Roswell, New Mexico. No one would ever have known about the crash except a rancher found unusual debris on his property: lightweight metal, rubber-like strips, and what he called “tinfoil”. The rancher reported it to local authorities, who dutifully informed the Roswell Army Air Field, assuming it was something the military was flying. Then something odd happened. The military reported they recovered a “flying disc” from the site. And it made headlines.
The military retracted that statement, changing their story to say it was just a weather balloon. And the material in the rancher’s field was said to be part of a top-secret project called Mogul that involved high-altitude balloons meant to detect nuclear tests. But some were convinced the flying disc was moved covertly to Area 51, a secret military base in the Nevada desert. And once hidden there, the government began reverse engineering the alien technology in an attempt to harness its secrets.
For decades, the government refused to acknowledge Area 51 even existed, which only fueled speculation the base was hiding alien tech. We now know it not only exists, it was the secret location where the U-2 and A-12 spy planes were tested.
But recently, those far-fetched rumors of hidden alien craft got a lot less far-fetched. In 1989, former contractor for the U.S. Navy Robert Lazar claimed he worked inside Area 51 on reverse-engineering alien spacecraft technology — even saying there were nine different spacecraft stored in underground hangars. The government has apparently been busy collectors since Roswell. Or course, Lazar’s claims are heavily disputed.
But Lazar is not alone. Luis Elizondo, a former Pentagon investigator, testified to Congress under oath about a secretive global "arms race" to acquire and reverse-engineer these alien ships. Other witnesses — also under oath — referred to advanced technologies of unknown origin monitored near military installations and hinted at government suppression of information regarding such technology.
Given these reports, it’s not surprising that Joerg Arnu, a renowned Area 51 researcher and host of the website Dreamland Resort, headed to the September 23 crash site in person, as soon as he saw the NOTAM warning. What he found was a site covered up and cleaned of all evidence. The ground was heavily disturbed — something had happened there. But there was no debris, just freshly turned soil and tire tracks, he assumed from military vehicles.
That should be that. The FAA restricted the air space and the crash was cleared. Maybe it was a military drone from nearby Creech Air Force Base, as official U.S. Air Force Statements now claim. Whatever it was, the government can walk away unscathed once again, the mysteries of Area 51 safe as usual.
Except they didn’t. The government offered up added details: investigators at the crash site found unusual items not tied to the crash itself, items that raised suspicion. These included an “inert training bomb body” — a non-explosive, practice bomb used for training — and a “piece of an aircraft panel” described as being of "unknown origin."
The discovery of these items led to a joint probe by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI) and the FBI. But why were the details made public? The military won’t even confirm what craft was involved in the crash.
When the government purposely leaks facts about a military crash, they are often sending a message to the enemy: we know what you tried to do, and we have the evidence. Perhaps the admission they found pieces of an aircraft panel of unknown origin is a message to the makers of that craft: if you come looking for your captured technology, we’ll know it.