Person
Roberto Doz
Also known as Col. Roberto Doz, colonnello Doz, Doz
- Colonel (ret.), Italian Air Force; S-2F anti-submarine pilot (41° Stormo, Catania) and helicopter pilot
Roberto Doz is a retired colonel of the Italian Air Force. By his own account he joined in 1970, flew the Grumman S-2F carrier aircraft on anti-submarine missions with the 41° Stormo at Catania for fifteen years, served at the Air Staff in Rome, trained on helicopters at the Air Force helicopter school at Frosinone, and spent ten years with the 1st Air Brigade at Padua before a last posting at Monte Venda. His own website credits him with more than 4,500 flying hours on jets, multi-engine aircraft and helicopters and with directing search and rescue for northern Italy. No official Air Force record of his career has been found: these credentials come from his interviews and his site.
On 13 December 1985, while training at the helicopter school, he and his wife saw a silent, rectangular object at the San Cesareo motorway toll booth south-east of Rome. He began investigating UFO reports while still in service, spoke about them in interviews and on television, and runs a group and website, "UFO e Piloti", that collects pilots' accounts.
Sources: Roberto Doz, interviews on the Simone Tommasini Podcast (2024) and with Sabrina Pieragostini (Extremamente, 2026) · ufoepiloti.it, "Chi siamo"
Facts and claims
- claimed Doz says he joined the Air Force in 1970 through a competition for future airline pilots; after the Academy at Pozzuoli and basic jet school at Galatina he was sent, on an experimental fast-track course, to the 41° Stormo anti-submarine wing at Catania, where he got his wings and served 15 years; then he served at the Air Staff in Rome (3rd Department), with a squadron of the 1st Air Brigade at Padua for ten years, and at Monte Venda. — Roberto Doz Source: L'UFO del colonnello Doz: Roberto Doz on his 1985 sighting (Extremamente, 2026) at 1:02
- claimed At first the sighting shook him: a pilot who says he saw a flying railway carriage invites jokes about drink and drugs, and is under medico-legal control; but he was not alone, he says, and his witnesses include his group commander at Frosinone. — Roberto Doz Source: L'UFO del colonnello Doz: Roberto Doz on his 1985 sighting (Extremamente, 2026) at 15:35
- claimed He says his list of witnesses includes engineers of the Registro Aeronautico, commanders, pilots and technical officers at Frosinone, qualified people who told him they were left astonished. — Roberto Doz Source: L'UFO del colonnello Doz: Roberto Doz on his 1985 sighting (Extremamente, 2026) at 20:13
- claimed Asked whether his superiors ever told him to drop the subject, he answers "mai" (The archive's translation: never); but he says a serving pilot who reports a UFO risks being grounded by the medical board, so he spoke only of what happened off duty and always presented his views as personal ones, not the Air Force's. — Roberto Doz Source: L'UFO del colonnello Doz: Roberto Doz on his 1985 sighting (Extremamente, 2026) at 22:54
- claimed Doz says he had the training to recognise everything that flies, from sounding balloons and birds to ball lightning: at the time of his sighting he was training maritime-reconnaissance crews in what can be seen from an aircraft. — Roberto Doz Source: Mistero UFO with Col. Roberto Doz (Simone Tommasini Podcast #18, 2024) at 9:34
- claimed He says that what he saw in flight stays within the confidentiality of his role as a military pilot, "niente di eclatante" (The archive's translation: nothing striking); his 1985 sighting happened off duty, so he spoke about it at once, in articles and on television. — Roberto Doz Source: Mistero UFO with Col. Roberto Doz (Simone Tommasini Podcast #18, 2024) at 1:21:11
- claimed His own site describes him as a former Air Force colonel with more than 4,500 flying hours, qualified on jets (MB-326, MB-339), multi-engine aircraft (P-166, Grumman S-2F, Breguet 1150 Atlantic) and helicopters (AB-204, AB-47 G2, AB-212, NH-500), who served with the Aviazione per la Marina as an instructor in air-naval recognition and directed the search-and-rescue service for northern Italy. — Roberto Doz Source: ufoepiloti.it (archived)
Connected files
Incidents
- Roberto Doz sighting at the San Cesareo toll booth (Italy, 1985) (witness) — Saw the object from his car at the San Cesareo toll booth on 13 December 1985, driving home from the helicopter school at Frosinone
Organizations
- Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare) (member of) — Joined the Air Force in 1970; retired as a colonel
Videos
- Mistero UFO with Col. Roberto Doz (Simone Tommasini Podcast #18, 2024) (appears in)
- L'UFO del colonnello Doz: Roberto Doz on his 1985 sighting (Extremamente, 2026) (appears in)