CASE FILE S-2
3 Pilots Watched a UFO for 40 Minutes Over Kazakhstan - Case S-2
2026-09-03 · Declassified UAP records
On January 27, 1994, Tajik Air's chief pilot — an American, Ed Rhodes — and two American colleagues were flying a Boeing 747SP at 41,000 feet over Kazakhstan when a light of enormous intensity came at them from over the eastern horizon, far above their altitude.
For roughly forty minutes they watched it maneuver in circles and corkscrews, making 90-degree turns at high speed under very high G-forces, before it settled onto a horizontal high-speed course and vanished over the horizon. Rhodes photographed it with a pocket Olympus camera.
It was dark, so the crew could not make out a shape; they described its light as having a "bow wave," like a high-speed photograph of a bullet in flight. As the sun rose about 45 minutes later, the 747 — making over 500 knots — flew beneath the contrails the object had left. Rhodes put them at roughly 100,000 feet, an altitude where ordinary aircraft cannot produce contrails, and the trails traced the same circles and corkscrews.
When the embassy suggested a meteor, the crew — former Pan Am pilots who had seen thousands of falling stars and re-entering space junk — were adamant it was nothing of the kind. Rhodes's stated opinion, which his crew appeared to share: the object was extraterrestrial and under intelligent control. The embassy's comment: "We have no opinion and report the above for what it may be worth."
The cable was released in full by the State Department in 2026 — nothing redacted. Below is the document itself, followed by the full narration transcript and the reported position.
The Document
UNCLASSIFIED 31 Jan 1994
State Department Cable — Tajik Air Pilots Report Unidentified Flying Object (Jan 1994)
- From: AMEMBASSY DUSHANBE · To: SECSTATE WASHDC · Info: Moscow, Tashkent, Ashgabat, Almaty, Beijing, Bishkek, CIA, DIA
- Date/DTG: Jan 31, 1994 / 310258Z Jan 94 · Subject: TAJIK AIR PILOTS REPORT UNIDENTIFIED FLYING OBJECT
1. TAJIK AIR CHIEF PILOT, AMCIT ED RHODES, AND HIS TWO AMERICAN PILOT COLLEAGUES REPORTED JANUARY 29 THAT, ON JANUARY 27, THEY HAD ENCOUNTERED A UFO WHILE FLYING AT 41,000 FEET IN THEIR BOEING 747SP AT LAT 45 NORTH AND LONG 55 EAST, OVER KAZAKHSTAN. THEY FIRST ENCOUNTERED THE OBJECT AS A BRIGHT LIGHT OF ENORMOUS INTENSITY, APPROACHING THEM FROM OVER THE HORIZON TO THE EAST AT A GREAT RATE OF SPEED AND AT A MUCH HIGHER ALTITUDE THAN THEIR OWN. THEY WATCHED THE OBJECT FOR SOME FORTY MINUTES AS IT MANEUVERED IN CIRCLES, CORKSCREWS AND MADE 90-DEGREE TURNS AT RAPID RATES OF SPEED AND UNDER VERY HIGH G'S. CAPTAIN RHODES TOOK SEVERAL PHOTOS WITH A POCKET OLYMPUS CAMERA AND WILL SEND COPIES TO THE EMBASSY AND THE TAJIKISTAN DESK (LOWRY TAYLOR) IN THE DEPARTMENT, IF THEY COME OUT. AFTER SOME TIME, THE OBJECT ADOPTED A HORIZONTAL HIGH-SPEED COURSE AND DISAPPEARED OVER THE HORIZON.
2. AS IT WAS DARK WHEN THE OBJECT WAS OBSERVED, THE CREW WERE UNABLE TO DISCERN ITS SHAPE. THEY DESCRIBED THE LIGHT IT EMITTED AS HAVING A "BOW WAVE" AND AS RESEMBLING A HIGH-SPEED PHOTO OF A BULLET IN FLIGHT, IN WHICH A VERY SMALL OBJECT GIVES OFF A MUCH LARGER TRAILING WAVE OF HEAT/LIGHT. SOME FORTY-FIVE MINUTES AFTER THE INITIAL SIGHTING, AS THE SUN WAS RISING, THE AIRCRAFT FLEW UNDER THE CONTRAILS WHICH THE OBJECT HAD LEFT BEHIND. THE PLANE WAS MAKING OVER 500 KNOTS. RHODES ESTIMATED THE ALTITUDE OF THE CONTRAILS AT APPROXIMATELY 100,000 FEET, NOTING THAT THERE IS TOO LITTLE AIR/MOISTURE AT THAT EXTREME ALTITUDE TO ENABLE THE CREATION OF CONTRAILS BY THE PROPULSION MECHANISMS OF ORDINARY AIRCRAFT WHICH MIGHT BE ABLE TO REACH THAT HEIGHT. THE PATHS OF THE CONTRAILS REFLECTED THE MANEUVERS OF THE OBJECT, I.E., CIRCLES, CORKSCREWS, ETC.
3. TO OUR SUGGESTION THAT THE OBJECT MIGHT HAVE BEEN A METEOR ENTERING AND SKIPPING OFF THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE, RHODES AND HIS CREW WERE ADAMANT THAT THEY HAD SEEN THOUSANDS OF "FALLING STARS" AND OTHER SPACE JUNK ENTERING THE ATMOSPHERE IN THEIR YEARS OF FLYING PASSENGER AIRCRAFT FOR PANAM. THIS, THEY INSISTED, WAS NOTHING LIKE A METEOR. ON THE BASIS OF ITS SPEED AND MANEUVERABILITY, RHODES EXPRESSED THE OPINION, WHICH HIS CREW SEEMED TO SUPPORT, THAT THE OBJECT WAS EXTRATERRESTRIAL AND UNDER INTELLIGENT CONTROL.
4. COMMENT: WE HAVE NO OPINION AND REPORT THE ABOVE FOR WHAT IT MAY BE WORTH.
ESCUDERO
U.S. Department of State cable 94 DUSHANBE 259, released in full (CSP-2025-00040), John Powers, Acting Director, 25 Feb 2026. · U.S. Department of State — American Embassy Dushanbe to SECSTATE (DOS-UAP-D2)
Where It Happened
Full Transcript
In 1994, three American pilots flying a Boeing 747 over Kazakhstan watched an object circle and corkscrew around them for forty minutes. Then the U.S. State Department wrote it down.
January 27th, 1994. At forty-one thousand feet, Tajik Air's chief pilot, an American named Ed Rhodes, and two colleagues saw a bright light of enormous intensity approaching from the east, far above their altitude.
For about forty minutes it flew in circles, corkscrews, and made ninety-degree turns at high speed, under heavy G-forces. Rhodes photographed it with a pocket camera.
As the sun rose, they flew under the contrails it left behind, which Rhodes estimated at one hundred thousand feet, higher than any jet can leave a trail. Former Pan Am pilots, they were adamant: it was nothing like a meteor.
Their conclusion, in an official State Department cable: the object was, in their opinion, extraterrestrial and under intelligent control. The embassy added only, we report this for what it may be worth. Search Case S-2 at ufodata.org. Subscribe to UFO Data.
Sources
All documents and footage are authentic, public-domain U.S. government releases. Narration is AI-generated text-to-speech.