Person
Dan Isbell
Also known as Dan A. Isbell, Isbell
- U.S. Air Force F-111 pilot and experimental test pilot (ret.); commander, 514th Flight Test Squadron
- 27 years in the U.S. Air Force; Air Vehicle Program Manager, F/A-22 System Program Office; Chief, F-16 System Program Office
Dan Isbell is a retired U.S. Air Force pilot who served 27 years. A Georgia Tech aerospace-engineering graduate, he went straight from pilot training to the left seat of the F-111 at RAF Upper Heyford in England, where he stood nuclear "Victor alert", and later graduated from the Air Force Test Pilot School and flew more than 70 aircraft types. His posts included commander of the 514th Flight Test Squadron, chief of the F-16 System Program Office and air-vehicle program manager in the F/A-22 program office; after retiring he worked on directed-energy weapons and taught directed-energy systems engineering.
Isbell says that on the night of 26 December 1980, driving home from alert at Upper Heyford, he watched a silent, triangular craft hover over a golf course, and kept it to himself for more than four decades for fear of losing his flying career. He came forward to Ryan Graves's Americans for Safe Aerospace in May 2023, says Graves arranged an interview with the FBI, and told the full story publicly in 2025–2026. He has described three later sightings: a roughly 300-foot black triangle over Edwards Air Force Base in 1990, while he was a Test Pilot School instructor, and lights and a sphere near his Florida homes in 2014 and 2016.
Sources: DEPS instructor biography (2022) · Safe Aerospace Podcast interview (2026)
Facts and claims
- claimed Isbell says that on 26 December 1980, driving home from RAF Upper Heyford, he saw a silent 50–60-foot triangular craft hover over a golf course from about 150 feet away, and told no one for 43 years. — Dan Isbell Source: Air Force Test Pilot Saw a Silent Triangular Craft Over an English Golf Course | Dan Isbell Part I at 1:17:38
- claimed He says that in 1990, as a Test Pilot School instructor at Edwards AFB, he watched a silent black triangle, perhaps 300 feet across, blot out the stars as it passed slowly overhead. — Dan Isbell Source: Test Pilot Watched a 300-Foot Black Triangle Blot Out the Stars Over Edwards | Dan Isbell Part 2 at 3:30
- claimed He says Ryan Graves arranged an FBI interview, and the FBI later asked to release his account without his name. — Dan Isbell Source: Air Force Test Pilot Saw a Silent Triangular Craft Over an English Golf Course | Dan Isbell Part I at 1:07:03
- claimed He says Cold War aircrew had to memorise the silhouette of every Soviet and NATO aircraft, which he used to rule them out; as the craft descended towards him he concluded: “This is genuinely a UFO”, and walked back to his car to protect himself and his career. — Dan Isbell Source: Air Force Test Pilot Saw a Silent Triangular Craft Over an English Golf Course | Dan Isbell Part I at 1:19:01
- claimed He links his sighting to an anonymous Upper Heyford guard's account of a similar craft over the weapons storage area about three hours later, and to the Rendlesham Forest incident the same night. — Dan Isbell Source: Air Force Test Pilot Saw a Silent Triangular Craft Over an English Golf Course | Dan Isbell Part I at 1:21:16
- claimed On the 1990 Edwards triangle, Ryan Graves weighed a prosaic explanation: too big for a hangar unless inflatable, with a light-absorbing or optical-stealth skin; Isbell allows it could have been a U.S. test article. — Ryan Graves Source: Test Pilot Watched a 300-Foot Black Triangle Blot Out the Stars Over Edwards | Dan Isbell Part 2 at 9:00
Connected files
People
- Ryan Graves (helped by) — He came forward to Graves's Americans for Safe Aerospace, and Graves arranged an FBI interview
- George Knapp (related to)
Incidents
- Rendlesham Forest incident (links to) — He links his own sighting that night to the Rendlesham Forest incident
- Upper Heyford triangle (Dan Isbell) (witness)
- Edwards AFB black triangle (Dan Isbell) (witness)
Videos
- Air Force Test Pilot Saw a Silent Triangular Craft Over an English Golf Course | Dan Isbell Part I (appears in)
- Test Pilot Watched a 300-Foot Black Triangle Blot Out the Stars Over Edwards | Dan Isbell Part 2 (appears in)