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How did Kenneth Arnoldâs 1947 sighting near Mount Rainier lead to the term âflying saucerâ?
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unidentified flying object
Learn about an unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) sighting from this video (known as the Gimbal video) captured by fighter pilots associated with the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group. The video shows instrument detections of unknown aerial objects, which the pilots were unable to identify, off the East Coast of the United States, 2014â15.
The term "flying saucer" did not originate from Kenneth Arnoldâs actual description of the objects he sighted, but rather from a misinterpretation of his account by the press.
In 1947, while piloting his plane near Mount Rainier, Arnold reported seeing a group of high-speed, crescent-shaped objects. He described their movement through the air as being "like saucers skipping on water". A newspaper report subsequently misstated that the objects themselves were saucer-shaped, which inadvertently birthed the term "flying saucer". This misreporting became the foundation for the popular label used to describe unidentified flying objects.12