2007 · North and Northeast Brazil
Brazil's airliner 'phantom traffic' reports
Primary document. COMDABRA 'Ocorrência de Tráfego Hotel' form (ARX.0.0.662, CONFIDENCIAL, declassified 2010): TAM 8077, 1 Oct 2007, 06:43Z, FL390 near Santarém, sighting at 12 o'clock with TCAS, about one hour. · Arquivo Nacional (Brazil), fund BR DFANBSB ARX
When2007 – 2025
WhereNorth and Northeast Brazil
Backing1 independent
Evidenceofficial records
Brazil's Air Force files hold a run of airliner and military crew reports, 2007–2025, of traffic that showed on collision-avoidance systems but not on radar, sometimes with a light outside. Crews made evasive turns; one target mirrored every manoeuvre for seven minutes; a pilot saw a white object pass 300 ft away. One 2019 report was resolved as a helicopter; the rest stay unexplained.
Evidence, in date order (1)
- COMDABRA / CINDACTA formsofficialcrew reports logged by air-defence centres, 2007–2025 ARX.0.0.662, 677, 681, 723, 724, 856
How plausible · Very high
Eighteen years of named crews logging collision-avoidance alerts and evasive turns on Air Force forms.
- ●●Access Airline and Air Force crews.
- ●●No gain sought Air-defence forms.
- ●●Restraint Logged as traffic, not UFOs.
- ●●Character record Named airline and FAB crews.
- ●●Independent convergence Many crews, 2007-2025, some at the same time.
- ●●Checkable details check out Form numbers are on record.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- TAM 3715, 10 Feb 2012, FL310 near Palmas: evasive turn left; the area control centre saw 'multiplicidade de pista' (ARX.0.0.681).
- 23 Jan 2023, Sergipe: TCAS-only traffic, no radar return (ARX.0.0.856).
- 2019, offshore Alagoas: resolved as helicopter PP-MRA (ARX.0.0.769), a control case.
Claims
TAM 8077 at FL390 near Santarém turned to avoid a strong light that 'era acusado no TCAS', which followed for about an hour toward Belém.firsthandOn the recordcrew report, ARX.0.0.662 (1 Oct 2007)
An ACAS target 7 NM ahead mirrored every manoeuvre for 7 minutes; 'não é a primeira vez'.firsthandOn the recordTTL 9930 crew, ARX.0.0.677 (29–30 Jun 2011)
TCAS traffic 'muito rápido em zigue-zague'; GOL 9109 made an evasive manoeuvre, and a PR-XVA pilot saw a white object pass about 300 ft away.firsthandOn the recordGOL 9109, Avianca ONE6372 and PR-XVA crews, ARX.0.0.724 (24 Jan 2014)
A TCAS conflict 8–10 NM away that radar control and the crew could not identify; the nearest aircraft was 100 NM away.firsthandOn the recordFAB R-99 'Guardião 96' crew, ARX.0.0.723 (13 Mar 2014)
Where
North and Northeast Brazil
5.0°S 45.0°W · region only