Fallrapport: Aguadilla-klippet — termiska objekt vid Puerto Rico 2013

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All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) 
U.S. Department of Defense 
Case: “The Puerto Rico Object” 
Case Resolution | 20 March 2025 
Case Synopsis 
Location: Puerto Rico 
Date: April 26, 2013 
Object Altitude (Reported): N/A 
Object Altitude (Assessed): 656 ft 
Object Speed (Reported): N/A 
Object Speed (Assessed): 8 mph 
Object Shape (Reported): N/A 
Object Shape (Assessed): Indistinct 
Reporter: Publicly available media, originally 
recorded by U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection. 
Data Type: Infrared 
Reported Behavior: Split or replicated; 
transmedium behavior. 
Assessed Behavior: The objects did not 
demonstrate anomalous performance 
characteristics. 
Confidence: High confidence that the objects 
did not demonstrate anomalous performance 
characteristics. Moderate confidence that the 
objects were a pair of sky lanterns. 
25-P-0553
AARO Assessment and Case Status: 
AARO assesses with high confidence
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that 
the objects did not exhibit anomalous 
behavior or transmedium capabilities. 
AARO assesses with moderate confidence 
that the objects were a pair of sky la
nterns. 
Case Overview 
On April 26, 2013, an infrare d (IR) sensor 
onboard a U.S. Customs and Border 
Protection (CBP) De Havilland Canada 8 
aircraft flying above Rafael Hernandez 
Airport near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico 
captured thermal video footage of two 
objects drifting at wind speed and direction. 
The objects app
eared to move at a high rate 
of speed over the airport and surrounding 
area before separating from one another. 
The objects seemed to enter, exit, and 
disappear into the Atlantic Ocean off 
Puerto Rico's northwestern coast. 
During the enc
ounter, the CBP aircraft flew 
in an arc around the Rafael Hernandez 
A
irport, gaining approximately 1,725 feet 
in altitude before losing sensor contact with 
the objects at 3,600 feet. The aircraft 
entered a layer
 of scattered clouds as it 
passed 3,000 feet in
 altitude. These clouds 
partially obscured the sensor's view, 
potentially affecting the objects’ sensor 
return. The range between the aircraft and 
the objects nearly tripled during the 
encounter. These factors contribute to the 

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video’s diminishing quality over time. Figure 1 reconstructs the aircraft's flight path, sensor line-
of-sight to the ground, and position relative to the objects. 
Figure 1: A reconstruction of the CBP aircraft's flight path is shown in green. Grey lines 
indicate the sensor's line-of-sight to the ground from the aircraft. The yellow arrow shows the 
objects’ assessed flight path. 
Key Findings 
AARO assesses with high confidence that: 
•The objects did not exhibit anomalous speeds or other behavior exceeding known state-
of-the-art performance characteristics.
•The video depicts two objects traveling near each other rather than a single object
splitting into two.

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P
erformance Characteristics 
Object Speed: Systems Toolkit (STK) reconstruction determined the objects drifted at 
approximately 3.6 meters per second (8 mph) in a straight line over land, consistent with the 
recorded wind speed of 4.4 meters per second (9.8 mph) from the east/northeast.
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The objects’ apparent high speed is attributable to motion parallax. Motion parallax is an optical 
effect that induces an observer to perceive that a stationary or slow-moving object is moving 
much faster than its actual speed when viewed from a moving frame of reference. T