UFO support group set up for pilots who see objects in the sky: report

The first active-duty military pilot to come forward to Congress about his encounter with unidentified flying objects is starting a non-profit group that seeks to lend support to other pilots who've had similar experiences, NBC News reported.

Advocates say professional pilots often face stigma and institutional obstacles when it comes to reporting a UFO sighting.

Ryan Graves, who founded Americans for Safe Aerospace, seeks to change that stigma.

“Unidentified objects in our airspace present an urgent and critical safety and national security issue, but pilots are not getting the support they need and the respect they deserve,” Graves said. “When I served, my squadron was encountering UAP nearly every day, and nothing was being done.”

While UFO phenomenon is usually conflated with aliens, the security threat they potentially pose likely has a more earthly urgency. "...from the undeclared drone attacks on Moscow apartment buildings this week to the recent flight of a Chinese spy balloon over sensitive U.S. military installations" advocates say traditional U.S. aerospace defenses aren’t equipped to detect them.

“The establishment of Americans for Safe Aerospace is long overdue,” retired Navy Rear Adm. Tim Gallaudet said in a statement. “As the chief meteorologist for the U.S. Navy, I dedicated my career to the safety of flight. I have seen firsthand how Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) have placed military pilots at risk, and we need to better understand them to reduce that risk.”

Read the full report at NBC News.