Person
Oscar Santa María Huertas
Also known as Oscar Santa María, Santa Maria
- Commander, Peruvian Air Force; Sukhoi Su-22 pilot (1980)
Oscar Santa María is a retired Peruvian Air Force pilot. On the morning of 11 April 1980, flying a Sukhoi Su-22 from La Joya air base near Arequipa, he was ordered to shoot down a luminous, balloon-like object hovering in restricted airspace while hundreds of personnel watched from the ground. He is one of the few pilots on record as having fired on a UAP.
At the 2007 National Press Club panel he said he fired a burst of 64 30-millimetre shells, some of which hit the object without any visible effect. It then climbed away, stopped dead at about 30,000 feet so that he had to veer to avoid it, and three times climbed vertically out of his sights just as he was about to fire again. He also described it in Leslie Kean's 2010 book.
A second airman from the base, Julio Chamorro, described the object to TVPerú in 2025, and Santa María says a U.S. Defense Department report of June 1980 documents the case, though that report is not yet in this archive. The object's balloon-like appearance makes a balloon the obvious conventional explanation, but Santa María says it could not account for how it moved.
Sources: National Press Club (2007) · Leslie Kean, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (2010)
Facts and claims
- claimed Peruvian Air Force pilot Oscar Santa María described firing on an unidentified object in his Sukhoi in 1980. — Oscar Santa María Huertas Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 36:38
- claimed At the 2007 National Press Club panel he said that at 7:15 a.m. on 11 April 1980, with some 1,800 men in formation at La Joya air base watching, he was ordered to shoot down a stationary, balloon-like luminous object in restricted airspace, and fired a burst of 64 30-mm shells at it, some hitting it without effect: “probably they were absorbed”. — Oscar Santa María Huertas Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 36:38
- claimed He said the object then climbed away, stopped suddenly at about 30,000 ft forcing him to veer, and three times evaded him by climbing vertically just as he locked on to fire again. — Oscar Santa María Huertas Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 37:50
- claimed In a 2025 TVPerú interview he repeated the account, saying he chased the object to 19,200 m (about 63,000 ft) and closed to about 100 m, and showed what he says is a U.S. Department of Defense report on the case dated 3 June 1980, given to him in Washington in 2007; that document is not in this archive. — Oscar Santa María Huertas Source: TVPerú: the former Peruvian pilot who chased and fired on a UFO over Arequipa speaks (2025) at 3:44
- claimed A second witness at the base, Julio Chamorro, told TVPerú he saw a huge white object like a deflating balloon become a perfect sphere, turn silver and climb vertically as the Sukhoi took off. Source: TVPerú: the former Peruvian pilot who chased and fired on a UFO over Arequipa speaks (2025) at 5:50
Connected files
Events
- National Press Club panel on UFOs and aviation safety (testified in)
Hearings & briefings
- Citizen Hearing on Disclosure (testified at)
Incidents
- La Joya Air Base intercept (witness)
Videos
- Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 1 (appears in)
- Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 2 (appears in)
- TVPerú: the former Peruvian pilot who chased and fired on a UFO over Arequipa speaks (2025) (appears in)
- National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters (appears in)
Mentioned in videos
- Citizen Hearing 2013: South American Encounters, Part 2
- TVPerú: the former Peruvian pilot who chased and fired on a UFO over Arequipa speaks (2025)