E317 - What Did Steven Spielberg Get Right About UFO Encounters in the Cockpit? - Episode 317

Take a deep dive into the iconic air traffic control scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind. What host Todd Curtis uncovers might surprise you.

Revisiting the tense near–midair collision sequence, Todd analyzes how accurately the film portrayed the real-world challenges pilots and controllers faced in the 1970s when reporting UFOs (now known as UAPs). As shown in the scene, two separate airline crews and air traffic controllers hesitate to report what they’ve seen—even after a close call. 

Todd painstakingly reviewed the footage over a dozen times to create an NTSB-inspired transcr...