Archival rendering of veteran pilot Floyd P. Hallstrom's January 1, 1978 sighting near Santa Monica, California, investigated by NICAP's Robert Bowker and Idabel Epperson.
THINK ABOUTIT UFO SIGHTINGS REPORT
1978: Veteran Pilot Encounters UFO With Portholes, Santa Monica
Shortly after 12:45 p.m. on New Year’s Day, 1978, veteran pilot Floyd P. Hallstrom was cruising at 7,500 feet near Santa Monica, California, watching for his friend’s aircraft, when what he first took for that plane resolved instead into a wingless, tailless, domed disc, its rim ringed with 16 to 20 evenly spaced windows, passing 6,000 feet to his left with no visible propulsion, no rotation, and no wobble of any kind. Hallstrom had logged 37 years in the air, including 17 and a half as a Navy combat aircrewman and personal crew chief to admirals up through the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet. He radioed it in immediately, sketched it from memory, and by his own account was never quite the same afterward.
Date: January 1, 1978
Sighting Time: Approximately 12:45 to 1:00 p.m.
Day/Night: Day. This site’s legacy field data listed “Night,” which directly contradicts the sighting’s own recorded time (12:45–1:00 p.m.) and its own Hynek classification of DD (Daylight Disc); corrected here.
Location: Near Santa Monica, California, at 7,500 feet altitude, on a flight path from Oxnard toward San Diego via Los Angeles
Urban or Rural: Airborne, over an urban coastal area
No. of Entity(s): Not Applicable
Entity Type: Not Applicable
Entity Description: Not Applicable
Hynek Classification: DD — Daylight Disc. A metallic or whitish object seen in the day, observed at close range with clearly resolved structural detail.
Duration: Approximately 15 minutes overall (including initial approach); the object was in clear close view for approximately 1 minute as it passed
No. of Object(s): 1
Description of the Object(s): A saucer-shaped object with no wings, tail assembly, rotors, or visible propulsion system, consisting of a perfectly hemispherical dome approximately 20 feet in diameter resting atop a base approximately 30 feet in diameter; approximately 16 to 20 evenly spaced windows were visible around the dome’s circumference, just above the base; the object showed no rotation, oscillation, pitch, roll, or yaw as it passed, maintaining a steady course of approximately 310 degrees, opposite Hallstrom’s own heading
Shape of Object(s): Domed disc
Size of Object(s): Dome approximately 20 feet in diameter, resting on a base approximately 30 feet in diameter
Color of Object(s): Very bright metal, described by the witness as more consistent with nickel or highly polished chrome or stainless steel than aluminum, showing a mellow glow rather than the sharper glint of a high-polish aluminum finish; sunlight reflected off the dome as a bright spot as it passed
Distance to Object(s): Passed approximately 6,000 feet to Hallstrom’s left, viewed at a downward angle of approximately 30 to 45 degrees
Height & Speed: Observed at 7,500 feet altitude, matching Hallstrom’s own cruising altitude; estimated speed approximately 650 mph
Number of Witnesses: 1 confirmed (Floyd P. Hallstrom); a second pilot, Jim Victor, flying a separate aircraft nearby and in radio contact with Hallstrom, was notified of the sighting immediately afterward, though the primary source material does not clearly establish whether Victor personally observed the object himself; this ambiguity is flagged rather than resolved
Special Features/Characteristics: Witness was a highly experienced professional aviator: 37 years of flying experience, including 17.5 years as a Navy combat aircrewman and personal crew chief to admirals, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet; witness initially mistook the object for his friend’s incoming aircraft before realizing it was approaching too fast and lacked any conventional aircraft features; witness immediately radioed Jim Victor and then notified FAA authorities; witness took notes and produced a sketch of the object shortly after the sighting; witness reported being shaken by the experience, subsequently had recurring dreams about UFOs and extraterrestrial themes, and stated the experience altered his outlook on the subject and his life generally, having not previously taken UFOs seriously
Case Status: Unexplained
Source: MUFON UFO Journal, January 1978, pp. 3–5; investigators Robert K. Bowker and Idabel Epperson
Summary/Description: A dome-shaped UFO with portholes was seen in broad daylight by veteran pilot Floyd P. Hallstrom of Oxnard, California, near Santa Monica on January 1, 1978. Hallstrom, a pilot with 37 years of experience including 17.5 years as a Navy combat aircrewman and personal crew chief to admirals, was flying at 7,500 feet when a wingless, tailless, domed disc with 16 to 20 evenly spaced windows passed roughly 6,000 feet to his left at an estimated 650 mph, showing no rotation, oscillation, or visible propulsion before disappearing from view. He immediately radioed a fellow pilot and notified the FAA, and later reported the experience had a lasting personal impact on him.
Related Cases: None documented
Full Report
A dome-shaped UFO with portholes was seen in broad daylight by veteran pilot Floyd P. Hallstrom of Oxnard, California. Hallstrom had been flying for 37 years, 17½ as a Navy combat air crewman and personal crew chief to admirals, including the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet.
Hallstrom had left Oxnard at about 12:35 p.m. in a Cessna 170A bound for San Diego via Los Angeles, following a friend, Jim Victor, who was delivering another plane to a customer at Brown Field, San Diego. The plan was for him to transport Victor back to Oxnard after the delivery. The two kept in touch by radio.
As Hallstrom approached Santa Monica at 7,500 feet altitude, the sky was clear except for a smog layer in the vicinity of Los Angeles International Airport. “At this time I was looking for Jim straight ahead,” Hallstrom reported, “when I spotted [the UFO] just on the edge of the haze area above LAX slightly to the east side… I thought it was Jim so I watched it for about a minute because he had just given me his position report, but it seemed to get larger and coming toward me so I naturally realized that it wasn’t Jim…”
“I started looking to see what it was but I could see no wings on this aircraft although at this time I could see windows which appeared to be passenger windows in the aircraft. As it drew nearer though, I was able to determine that there were no wings or horizontal empennage assembly to the aircraft as a conventional aircraft…”
Hallstrom began wondering if it was some kind of helicopter, but it was approaching at high speed. As the UFO passed about 6,000 feet to his left, he was looking down on it at an angle of about 30 to 45 degrees. Then the true form suddenly became clear to him. There were no rotors, no tail assembly.
“All of a sudden I was able to make out the complete form of a saucer shape or round object… I could see the dome, also very vividly clear, including all the windows… [I] observed it to be of a very bright metal… it was more of a nickel or highly polished chrome or stainless steel type of metal than aluminum because it had more of a mellow glow than [if] it was of the type finish on a high finish aluminum.”
About 16 to 20 evenly spaced windows were visible around the circumference of the dome, located just above the base. The dome appeared to be a perfect hemisphere about 20 feet in diameter resting on the base, which was about 30 feet in diameter. The UFO continued on a course of about 310 degrees, opposite to Hallstrom’s course, with no sign of rotation, oscillation, pitch, roll, or yaw. Neither was there any sign of a propulsion system. The sun reflected off the dome as a bright spot as the UFO passed. After about a minute, the object disappeared from view behind the Cessna. Hallstrom estimated its speed at about 650 mph. He quickly took notes and made a sketch of the UFO.
Reaching for his radio microphone, he first called Jim Victor to report what he had seen. Then he notified various FAA authorities. Hallstrom, who was shaken by the sighting, later had troubling dreams, mostly about UFOs and aliens. He had not taken the subject seriously up to this time, but the implications of what he had seen struck home to him. He later reported that the experience had altered his entire life.
RESEARCHER’S NOTES
Santa Monica, 1978 — A Case Built on Aviation Expertise
- Day/Night field corrected. This site’s legacy field data listed the sighting as occurring at night, directly contradicting the case’s own recorded time (12:45–1:00 p.m.) and its own Hynek classification as a Daylight Disc. Corrected to Day.
- Few witnesses are better positioned to rule out conventional aircraft. Hallstrom’s 37 years of flying experience, including over 17 years as a Navy combat aircrewman and personal crew chief to senior admirals, gave him direct, extensive professional familiarity with a very wide range of aircraft types. His explicit, methodical process of ruling out a fellow small plane, then a helicopter, then any object with rotors or a tail assembly, before arriving at his final description, reflects careful technical elimination rather than an immediate leap to an extraordinary conclusion.
- Specific, technically grounded material description. Hallstrom’s distinction between the object’s “mellow glow” and the sharper glint of high-polish aluminum, drawing a specific comparison to nickel, chrome, or stainless steel, reflects the kind of detailed material judgment a career aviator familiar with aircraft skin finishes would be positioned to make, rather than a vague “shiny” description.
- Second-witness status remains genuinely ambiguous. Jim Victor was in the air nearby and in radio contact with Hallstrom, and was the first person Hallstrom contacted after the sighting, but the source material does not clearly establish that Victor personally observed the object himself, only that Hallstrom reported it to him immediately afterward. This entry counts the case as one confirmed witness rather than assuming a second based on proximity and radio contact alone.
- Immediate, contemporaneous documentation strengthens the case. Hallstrom notified the FAA and a fellow pilot within minutes of the sighting and produced a sketch shortly afterward, rather than the account emerging only later in retrospect. This kind of immediate, real-time reporting reduces the risk of memory drift affecting the core technical details.
- Named, established investigators. The case was investigated by Robert K. Bowker and Idabel Epperson, the latter also the Los Angeles NICAP Subcommittee chair responsible for the well-documented 1963 Sunnyvale disc case elsewhere in this archive, lending this case a continuity of serious, methodical investigation consistent with other well-regarded California cases from the same investigative circle.
A pilot with nearly four decades in the air, including a career flying combat missions and personally serving admirals up to the Commander-in-Chief of the Atlantic Fleet, watched a wingless, tailless, windowed dome cross his path in broad daylight, methodically ruled out every conventional explanation available to him in real time, and radioed it in before the adrenaline even wore off. He said it changed how he saw the rest of his life. Nearly fifty years later, no one has identified what he saw.
“All of a sudden I was able to make out the complete form of a saucer shape or round object… I could see the dome, also very vividly clear, including all the windows.”
— Floyd P. Hallstrom, January 1, 1978
