"FLYING PEOPLE" PHENOMENON IS FAKE -
SECRET HOAXER CABAL REVEALED
(Originally published March 2019)
Stunning sightings of apparent "flying humanoids", "flying witches", and even flying superheroes over the past couple of decades is a global mystery whose answer may finally be emerging. Many of these are multiple-witness sightings and many of them have been filmed. Sadly, after deep investigation it appears that many of them are also sophisticated hoaxes. For the first time ever, the people behind these flying people have come forward to reveal how they make them fly and why they make them fly in our skies to amaze and terrorize us.
Incredibly, a group of highly-skilled and creative Remote-Control (RC) model aircraft enthusiasts have been modifying large aerial models to resemble "flying people" for many years. They are organized and they have been secretly flying them among an unsuspecting public with the express intention to fool them. Remarkable video and stills of these hand-crafted aerials are included here.
Some of these individuals (primarily young and middle-aged men) have active fantasies about flying figures. This, combined with model-building expertise and aeronautical acumen, leads to their pranks, which are intended to intrigue and even scare us. The perverse pleasure they gain from this is known only to them. But, like some "revenge of the techno-nerds" scenario, it likely involves the rush that they get from successfully pulling one over on the gullible masses using the power of design engineering.
The Flying Phenomenon
Author Brent Swancer sums up the "phenomenon" well: "A very odd phenomenon from places all around the world is that of flying humanoids. I am not talking about bat-like creatures or winged avian anomalies, but rather as I said- human figures just up there flying about, with seemingly no means of doing so and not a care in the world. It seems almost ludicrous, but there have been many, many reports of flying people, often by very reliable witnesses." These unnatural entities are greatly feared because their appearance is sudden, seemingly inexplicable, and may portend ill-fortune to those who cross their path.
The Telling Ad
An online retailer of gadgets, novel electronics and similar unique items is the Oddity Mall. The company offers a "Remote Control Flying Human" (https://odditymall.com/remote-control-flying-human). This model is a 6.25 foot long Superman sculpted and fitted around a modified RC model plane. It costs $295.00 assembled.
It is described by the company in their online catalog (italics and bolding this author's):
"The Remote Control Flying Human is a radio controlled plane in the shape of a human, and it is a great way to troll your neighbors into thinking that Jesus has finally come back, or give your local kids the hope that Superman is actually real."
It was this line in the product description that was very telling. The ad copy inadvertently revealed something about many of those who buy the item and ones similar to it. The joy inherent in having such devices was not so much found in the user of it, but in what the user could do to others with it. The ad copy says that you will be "giving hope" that something is "actually real." But the real motive is given away in saying "it is a great way to troll your neighbors into thinking that" things that are not "actually real" are real. These RC aerials shaped like humans were not being seen by happenstance, they were being deliberately flown in areas where they would be seen and thought to be amazing, animate, flying things.
I made a connection between this RC Flying Superman and a sighting in England made by pilots of a flying figure that zipped by looking like a flying Superman. On June 13, 2014, an Airbus 320 was making a landing over Macclesfield to Manchester Airport. The pilot and first officer reported that within 100 meters of the plane's left side, a flying figure zipped by like the superhero Superman! Deemed the "Superman of Macclesfield" in England and Europe, the story was not as well reported in the U.S.
The similarities between the figure of the sighting featured in UK papers and the Superman model plane are obvious:
The idiots who flew their flying man close to the plane are the same kind of idiots who focus laser lights into plane windows. It apparently doesn't occur to them that the "real" Superman would not whiz by a plane so closely, endangering the flight.
And superheroes are certainly not the only configurations that can be purchased from several specialized online RC outlets...or created by enterprising model-makers.
The RC Humanoids
These aerial hoaxers purchase (or custom-make) assembled or non-assembled, U-build RC planes that can be configured to appear to be other flying figures such as Flying Humanoids or even Flying Witches.
In this short video clip from India we see a "flying humanoid" in full, clear flight. But there can be little doubt that what this is, is in fact a flying RC shaped like a human!
Compare this still from the above "humanoid" flight:
...to that of RC Flying Men:
And compare this still from a 2005 video from Mexico of a supposed "lit" flying humanoid:
...to that of a specially-lit, "Iron Man"-like RC flying figure made by one of the RC enthusiasts that I interviewed:
Flying People Over New York, Remarkable Videos and Secrets Revealed
In one of the most striking videos I have seen in a while, a group of young men send aloft a group of flying men over Manhattan. Watching this video and reflecting on reports of mysterious flying humanoids makes such reports instantly less mysterious:
And this "Iron Man" footage also demonstrates a flying man who can make ultra-fast vertical ascent, extreme right-angle turns and other extraordinary maneuvers:
Real "Flying Witches"?
Flying witches on broomsticks have been seriously and credibly reported around the world and particularly in Mexico. But as we see in the above still from a video of an RC enthusiast flying a homemade witch, such reports have a far more down-to-earth explanation.
RC Aerial Hoaxers' Confessions
Greg Tanous is the former proprietor of the now-defunct online retailer RC Superhero. His company sold several remote controlled, flying human-shaped configurations. Now a designer with toymaker Playmates (where he introduced a flying Ninja Turtle), he is the creator of what many consider among the best flying people models ever. He designed, created and sold the flying people aircraft seen flying over Manhattan in the video above.
In an email exchange with me, Tanous agrees that there are people who deliberately set out to fool people with flying people. When shown a link to a video of a supposed "flying humanoid", he said it was an evident hoax.
Numerous online blogs and websites are dedicated to the RC radio control aircraft community. They often contain forums. These
forums often leave a trail of telling comments that support the RC cabal's involvement in such aerial hoaxes. There are also more private and more locally-oriented sites in which people speak even more freely. Joining these forums and privately messaging site commenters yielded some extraordinary admissions:
A 61 year old amateur aerial Florida model maker, MH, who calls his flying people "figures" says:
"Once you get down the aerodynamics and a viable design of the figure, you work towards noise-minimization. Gliding techniques, how far away you are, plus the sound can be reduced so that those that are seeing it in flight from below will have a harder time hearing it. I also like to fly my figures at dusk. Silent flight of some human 'thing' makes it weirder I guess. Then fly over someone or a group. They want to believe, and they do believe it if you do it right."
MH points out my biggest concern, the idea of "silent flight". Don't such RC devices make too much noise, and so they can be identified as such by ground observers who would hear the familiar sound? In fact, the RC community does relish the high-pitched roar and rev sounds of their aerials, much like motorcyclists wanting to hear the sound of their powerful engines. Yet there are ways to silence their sound, such as stronger encasement material. And from a site called modelaviation.com on noise control: "Noise can be reduced at the source using mufflers, quiet engines and electric motors, and using care along the line of propagation" such as the distance from ground observers, a barrier between observer and RC, etc.
MH works in tandem with another, younger RC aircraft enthusiast, DR, who agreed to comment. I emailed him asking why he pranked people by sending his flying people aloft. DR replied: "I get a charge out of it to be honest. I don't announce I'm flying them, so yea some see them and think they saw something strange, and I didn't mean that to be. Some of the times though I do make it a special mission to trick vulnerable people."
I had asked him if this was a widespread phenomenon, those who prank using RC. He replied, "Of course. As long as you have the internet and can afford this stuff, it doesn't matter if South or North America or Europe." I asked him what he was working on currently. He answered without hesitation:
"A Pterodactyl. Others have done it, but I can do it better."
Which of course begs the question:
Are some of the modern day sightings and films of flying dinosaurs RCs too?