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On February 16, 1980, Air Oregon Flight 181 was on a night flight from Kennewick, Washington, to Ogden, Utah, when it encountered 'in-flight difficulties' and crashed in southeastern Idaho. Little is known about the crash itself, but the information that is available doesn't provide a good picture. The evidence points at a UFO encounter as the reason for the crash.
Crash[]
On February 16, 1980, at 11:25 pm, Air Oregon Flight 181 was cruising over southeastern Idaho. The following is the transcript recovered from the black box, a conversation between pilot Raeburn Hedley, co-pilot Norbert Scrivener and Pocatello Air Traffic Controller C.C. Sherman.
HEDLEY: Pocatello ATC, Pocatello ATC, come in. This is Air Oregon Flight 181. Come in. SHERMAN: Go ahead, 181. HEDLEY: Yeah, I believe I've sighted a craft in my immediate flightpath with no identifiable tag number, an....wait a minute....that isn't a plane, that isn't anything like...like I've seen! Tower!! SHERMAN: 'Go ahead, 181. HEDLEY: There appears to be an undistinguishable craft off to the...God, it doesn't even look like a freaking plane! It's like...almost like a giant metal pancake!! Norbert, are you seeing this s***?'! SCRIVENER: Gotcha, Raeburn. ...The h***? Do you see that?! There's something moving inside!! HEDLEY: 'Pocatello ATC, there's an undistinguishable craft about... SCRIVENER: ...About, well, from where we are, about the size of a 737. SHERMAN: Okay, hold on, stay on the frequency, I'm gonna contact Mountain Home. Stay at it. SCRIVENER: Wait, there's some sort o... HEDLEY: Our circuits are down!!! DOWN!!! <static> <sounds of screaming> HEDLEY: S***!!! <static> <violent shaking> <static>
Aftermath[]
C.C. Sherman told his story to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Out of the 17 passengers, only Hedley, Scrivener and five others survived the crash.
On February 16, 1981, a memorial service was held in memoriam of the lives lost in the crash of Air Oregon Flight 181.
To this day, neither Hedley, Scrivener, nor Sherman have any clue as to what that thing was.