Bill Sauter, a local San Diego area truck driver, was on his way back to CA, passing through Deming, New Mexico when he heard talk on his CB radio about an object in the sky. Bill told Channel 10 news in San Diego that he always carries a camcorder with him and so he was able to get footage of the object before, he said to a news 10 reporter, "...it just picked up speed and, whoooo...it was gone." In the same interview he described it as "...something out there that was not an airplane and wasn't a blimp." He also said: "It looked like a 747 but without wings and without a tail section." The original tape has attracted the attention of "Hard Copy" and was featured by them. MUFON of San Diego will continue the investigation on a local level. So far we have interviewed Mr. Sauter and begun analysis of the tape and hope to get a better enhancement in the coming weeks. The first results from MUFONs experts are that it is a disc shaped object that appears to hover. Look to this website for future updates.
Video clip (2.41 mb)
Videographic digitization courtesy of Moonlight SystemsClick on video image for full color jpg
The Border Patrol in Deming has been reported to be using an Aerostat type blimp. This explanation has been investigated thanks to reports via email from people in the Deming area. Although it is not excluded from being possible, it does not appear to be likely. You can see from the pictures that the blimps are white and have large tail sections. The shape doesn't seem to match the video image although at one angle, I think the tail might be difficult to see and the payload might be invisible under certain conditions. The air seems clear in the video. There is a bright portion of the image that might be a tail section hiding on the other side.
The report below describes the object as being silver and having no tail section. It was early in the morning and maybe the sunlight caused this effect. Although the object's movement might be explained by the fact that the Aerostat is tethered to a jeep that could be moving, it would seem unlikely that it could travel fast enough to challenge truckers on a highway. In the video it is steady and doesn't bounce as if attached to an off-road vehicle. We do not know what kind of Aerostat is used in the Deming area. It may have a different shape. This would explain the missing payload, different color and missing tail section. At this time, I think, there are too many problems with this explanation but it will not be excluded from possibility. The object does nothing to indicate that it could not be man-made but we are unable to identify it at this time. See the interview below for more information.
On July 6th MUFON Investigators, Mel Podell and Paul Cook, met with Bill Sauter and interviewed him. The original tape was obtained and copies have been made and will be computer enhanced. We are hoping that the images will be improved enough to see a shape to the object. Below is a portion of the transcript from the interview.
- Mel Podell:(edit) ...you're talking with Mel Podell and Paul Cook. Would you like to describe your ... circumstances and everything?
- Bill Sauter: Well I was, yeah, I was headed westbound, back to ports California and, just to the west of Deming which would be exit 68...
- Mel Podell: Deming, New Mexico...
- Bill Sauter: Yeah... that would be ...bout ten miles west of Deming and approximately I'd say anywhere from ten to fifteen miles south of there... to southeast was where the spotting was and it appeared to be like a... best way to describe it is like a 747 without wings or a tail section... a metallic object...
- Paul Cook: Could you do this, maybe, timewise. What was the first indication that there was something to look for?
- Bill Sauter: Oh there was jibber jabber on the CB radio from the people going in the other direction... they'll say "Hey look, what was that in the air out there?"... somebody says " Ahh.. It's just a UFO"
- Mel Podell: Were you alone at the time?
- Bill Sauter: No, I had my partner with me at that time.
- Paul Cook: Do you remember any of the CB call signs or handles?
- Bill Sauter: Nah nah, it was just other truckers going back and forth...
- Mel Podell: Many many truckers at this time of day... How many did you count about?
- Bill Sauter: Yeah... Oh, there was probably ten or fifteen...
- Mel Podell: Well traveled road?
- Bill Sauter: ... It's an interstate
- Paul Cook: This was on which CB channel?
- Bill Sauter: 19
- Paul Cook: OK, did you hear them talking first?
- Bill Sauter: Yeah... yeah, I heard them talking first and then, you know, as they say ... me traveling westbound and this was to my southeast, so my first glimpse I caught of it was in my mirror and then I pulled over to a safe spot where I could...
- Mel Podell: Oh, as you were listening you noticed in your rear view mirror that... the object was there, right after you heard the people describe it? Describe it as it looked through the rear view mirror.
- Bill Sauter: Like I say, it looked like a metallic object... like a 747 without wings or without a tail section... very shiny.
- Mel Podell: How fast was it moving?
- Bill Sauter: I have no idea.
- Mel Podell: You couldn't tell. You were still driving?
- Bill Sauter: Have no idea what the altitude was but, as they say, just from where those mountains are in the background, you know, I mean, normally a person can see anywhere from twelve to fifteen miles on flat ground with ... you know...
- Mel Podell: Describe the day. What type of day was it?
- Bill Sauter: 6:30 in the morning. It was very clear. Visibility was great. No overcast. No haze.
- (edit)
- Mel Podell: OK, how far did you drive along before the next event happened? ...I mean, after you noticed it in your rear view mirror?
- Bill Sauter: Oh, I pulled in ... the next exit where I could pull off was exit 68 which, you know was the safest place where I could pull off the road... not the point where I got my camera out then.
- Mel Podell: So you kept the camera with you at all times?
- Bill Sauter: Oh yeah, yeah... Camera's always...
- Mel Podell: What kind of camera was it?
- Bill Sauter: 8 millimeter ... video
- Mel Podell: Do you use it very frequently?
- Bill Sauter: Uh hum
- Paul Cook: Does it have a zoom?
- Bill Sauter: Yeah.. it's a 10 to 1 or 1 to 10
- Paul Cook: 10 to 1?
- Bill Sauter: yeah, 10 x 1
- Paul Cook: Did you use it when you were videotaping?
- Bill Sauter: yeah
- (edit)
- Paul Cook: Now, did you videotape it the entire time you were looking at it? or ... tell me what happened.
- Bill Sauter: Ahh, it was videotaped as far as I could, you know, and then the vibration was getting so bad as it was moving back...
- Paul Cook: So you weren't watching it before you got the videotape...
- Bill Sauter: No
- Mel Podell: You say it was vibrating....?
- Bill Sauter: Well, you know, vibrating as the truck, shaking up and down
- Mel Podell: Oh, I see, you were.. you didn't get out of the truck.
- Bill Sauter: No, that's what I was going to do, I was... grabbed my tripod and get out of the truck...
- Mel Podell: But, you didn't have time?
- Bill Sauter: Well, by the time I got it and was getting out of the truck, it was already gone.
- Paul Cook: I'm sorry I forgot, I think you answered the question... you said you were using the zoom?
- Bill Sauter: yeah
- Paul Cook: We wondered because at one point we couldn't tell whether it was moving toward us and away or if that was you zooming in and out.
- Bill Sauter: At one point, that was where it was moving, I was fully zoomed in on it and it was moved back.
- Paul Cook: How did it move as you were taping? What was it's motion from beginning to end?
- Bill Sauter: Well, again, Paul, it's hard to judge the speed because I had nothing to judge it with, you know...
- Paul Cook: Just direction I mean. How did it...?
- Bill Sauter: It moved southeast.
- Paul Cook: In a straight line?
- Bill Sauter: yeah... horizontal
- Paul Cook: It didn't do any loops or...
- Bill Sauter: No
- Mel Podell: Last you saw it, what was the object doing? ...the last time that you noticed it? Was it going up down or disappearing?
- Bill Sauter: At one point it went up, came back down and then moved to the southeast. ...and my first thought was a blimp, some sort of an airship. I don't think any of them, that I know of, have that kind of speed going horizontally.
- Mel Podell: Have you seen blimps in that area on previous trips?
- Bill Sauter: yeah, there's a station down here...(looking at map)
- Mel Podell: Are you going to say there's an air station for blimps?
- Bill Sauter: yeah, but that's down here... in Texas.
- Mel Podell: How far over?
- Bill Sauter: I don't know... let's see here (looking at map)
- Mel Podell: Here's route ten. Is it on ten?
- Bill Sauter: It's down here... just north of Del Rio a little ways...
- Mel Podell: There's a port for blimps?
- Bill Sauter: Uh hum
- Mel Podell: You've seen them there?
- Bill Sauter: yeah. They do some training down there, but however, all those blimps I seen down there ...they're not a camouflaged color but they're more like a khaki. You know, more like a canvas.
- Paul Cook: ...and this was a silver, you said.
- Bill Sauter: yeah, this was highly metallic and the one's that are down here, they have a tail section on them, you know, like the Goodyear blimp... that sort of tail section.
- Mel Podell: and these you've only seen in this area? ...here? and to the east? (points at map)
- Bill Sauter: yeah
- Mel Podell: Have you seen blimps back in the area of New Mexico, never before on all your trips?
- Bill Sauter: Not to my knowledge.
- Mel Podell: Might this be a blimp route, from west coast to east coast?
- Bill Sauter: I don't know, there was some talk that some of the guys that were on the radio were saying that they had... the border patrol was using blimps to spot... illegal aliens
- Mel Podell: They do
- Paul Cook: Have you seen the Metallic Goodyear blimp?
- Bill Sauter: Yeah
- Paul Cook: You are certain, it wasn't a normal blimp?
- Bill Sauter: No. No, it was much more metallic than that and, like I say, it was shaped ... there was no tail section on there. The blimp itself, you know, you kind of have a...
- Paul Cook: ...and a blimp would have a thing at the bottom
- Bill Sauter: This was more like a 747 that'd come up to a point a little bit and then high up and then back down again and then kind of a circular thing on the back of it.
- Paul Cook: Circular thing in the back?
- Mel Podell: What do you mean circular... which way... this way? (points at picture)
- Bill Sauter: That way.
- Mel Podell: Horizontal way with a circle in the back
- Bill Sauter: Yeah, sorta like, a good example of it was, sorta like if you built the old Star Trek, the uh, Enterprise and turned it backwards, like the saucer section.
- Mel Podell: All right, there are some military planes around here that do radar and electronic...
- Bill Sauter: No no no
- Mel Podell: ... and they have sort of a circle over their antenna
- Bill Sauter: Like the EHawk... no
- Mel Podell: So this is unlike anything you've seen before.
- Bill Sauter: Yeah
MUFON
Orion
SDUFOI
Links
This page is designed and maintained by
Paul
who can be reached at
Paul@n6rpf.com-us.net
