Incident · 31 July 1995 · San Carlos de Bariloche Airport, Argentina
Bariloche airport incident (Aerolíneas Argentinas flight 674)
Also known as Bariloche, Caso Bariloche, AR 674
Explained. The Argentine Air Force (CEFAE, 2018) resolved it as a discotheque sky-tracer searchlight reflected on ice-crystal cloud during a city-wide blackout; the operator acknowledged testing it that night. (CEFAE annual report 2018 (Argentine Air Force), including the resolution of the Bariloche case)
On the night of 31 July 1995, on approach to San Carlos de Bariloche, Capt. Jorge Polanco of Aerolíneas Argentinas flight 674, a Boeing 727, saw a white light rush towards the aircraft and stop about 100 metres away. During a renewed approach, he says, an object with three lights, red in the centre, flew parallel to the plane for about 17 minutes.
Polanco and airport staff said the airport and city lights went out as the object passed, and the control tower reported its instruments behaving abnormally at the same time. The case was widely covered in the Argentine press, and the French COMETA report (1999) cites it among aviation cases.
Argentine media reported in 2026 that it appears in U.S. declassified UAP files; that has not been matched to a specific record here.
Likely explained. In 2018 the Argentine Air Force's CEFAE published a re-investigation declaring the case resolved: the "UFO" was the beam of a discotheque sky-tracer searchlight, running on its own generator during the blackout and reflecting off thin layers of ice-crystal cloud. The operator acknowledged testing it that night, and the positions drawn by the Gendarmería crew matched where he aimed. Polanco's copilot told CEFAE the lights had looked like reflections to him from the start. The airport's own generator failure and a power surge in the apron lights account for the outage and the flash.
Sources: Clarín (2 August 1995) · CEFAE (Argentine Air Force) annual report 2018
Facts and claims
- claimed On approach to Bariloche, Capt. Jorge Polanco of Aerolíneas Argentinas flight 674 (a Boeing 727) saw a white light rush towards the aircraft and stop about 100 m away. During the renewed approach an object with three lights, red in the centre, flew parallel to the plane for about 17 minutes. — Jorge Polanco Source: ufologie.patrickgross.org (archived)
- claimed Polanco and the airport staff said the airport and city lights went out as the object passed, and the control tower reported its instruments behaving abnormally at the same time. The case was widely covered in the Argentine press (Clarín, August 2, 1995). Source: ufologie.patrickgross.org (archived)
- unverified The French COMETA report (1999) cites it among aviation cases. In 2026, Argentine media reported that it appears in U.S. declassified UAP files, but it has not been matched to a specific PURSUE catalog entry here.
- documented Resolution: in its 2018 report the Argentine Air Force's CEFAE declared the case resolved as the reflection of a discotheque "sky-tracer" searchlight on thin ice-crystal cloud during the city-wide power cut. The searchlight's operator, Juan Carlos Rivero, acknowledged testing it that night between 20:00 and 21:00, and the directions he pointed matched the positions drawn by Gendarmería commander Rubén Cipuzak. Source: CEFAE annual report 2018 (Argentine Air Force), including the resolution of the Bariloche case
- documented The 727's copilot, Carlos Dortona, told CEFAE that from the first moment the lights looked to him like "luces inusuales reflejadas" (unusual reflected lights). The report notes that only Captain Polanco described a solid body; the Gendarmería pilot Juan Domingo Gaitán said they saw it clearly as a light, with no structure. Source: CEFAE annual report 2018 (Argentine Air Force), including the resolution of the Bariloche case
Connected files
Documents
- CEFAE annual report 2018 (Argentine Air Force), including the resolution of the Bariloche case (documented in)
Organizations
- CEFAE (Argentine Air Force) (investigated by)
People
- Jorge Polanco (witnesses)
Official records (PURSUE)
- 255_413270_UFO's_and_Defense_What_Should_we_Prepare_For — 255_413270_UFO's_and_Defense_What_Should_we_Prepare_For (subject of)
Videos
- Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 1 (discussed in)
- The Bariloche UFO Incident - Argentina, 1995 (subject of)
- Jorge Polanco, the pilot who spotted a UFO in Bariloche (CHANGO interview) (subject of)
Mentioned in this file
- Boeing (Organization)
Mentioned in videos
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