Why Chile Created an Official UFO Office

Introduction

Chile has maintained one of the world’s longest-running official systems for investigating unidentified aerial phenomena, but its purpose has never been to prove extraterrestrial visitation. Instead, the programme was created to support aviation safety by collecting, analysing and, where possible, identifying reports of unusual aerial events. Over nearly six decades, the programme has evolved from a small commission established in 1968 into today’s Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (SEFAA), a permanent office within Chile’s civil aviation authority. Its records are valuable not because they confirm extraordinary explanations, but because they document how professional investigators distinguish between identifiable aerial events, insufficiently documented observations and the comparatively small number of cases that remain unresolved.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAASEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAA

Why Chile created an official UFO office

Chile’s official involvement with unidentified aerial reports began in July 1968, during a period of heightened public interest in unusual aerial sightings. Colonel Sergio Bravo Flores, then director of the national meteorological service, organised the Chilean Commission for the Study of Unidentified Space Phenomena with support from members of the Scientific Society of Chile. Its objective was straightforward: collect reports from official observation points and determine whether ordinary explanations could account for them.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAHistoria – SEFAASEFAAHistoria – SEFAA

One of Bravo’s first actions was to circulate an official request for reports to 43 meteorological and aeronautical stations stretching from Arica in the far north to Chilean Antarctic territory. During its existence, which lasted until 1975, the commission assembled roughly a dozen formal investigations. Some of these reports were later shared with the University of Colorado’s well-known Condon Committee, reflecting an early willingness to cooperate internationally rather than treat the files as classified secrets.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAHistoria – SEFAASEFAAHistoria – SEFAA

The programme was not continuously active after 1975. Official investigations resumed only after a widely reported series of unusual lights observed around Arica in March and April 1997 by members of the public, airport personnel and air traffic controllers. The renewed interest led the Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC), Chile’s civil aviation authority, to establish the Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (CEFAA) on 3 October 1997.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAHistoria – SEFAASEFAAHistoria – SEFAA

From CEFAA to SEFAA

Although CEFAA became internationally known as Chile’s “official UFO office”, it was always housed within the country’s civil aviation system rather than a military intelligence or scientific research agency. Its organisational placement shaped both its priorities and its methods.

In October 2021, DGAC reorganised the office. CEFAA was formally renamed the Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos (SEFAA), becoming a permanent section within the agency’s communications subdepartment while retaining responsibility for investigating anomalous aerial reports. According to SEFAA, its area of responsibility covers approximately 32 million square kilometres of controlled airspace extending from northern Chile towards the South Pole.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAASEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAA

The office states that its principal mission is to support aviation safety. Reports from airline crews, military and civilian pilots, air traffic controllers and members of the public are accepted because any unidentified object in controlled airspace could potentially represent a hazard, regardless of whether it later proves to have a mundane explanation.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos AnómalosSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos

How SEFAA investigates and closes cases

SEFAA’s investigative process resembles an aviation occurrence investigation more than a search for extraordinary phenomena. The office encourages witnesses to submit photographs, videos, radar information, audio recordings and detailed descriptions because conclusions depend heavily on the quality of available evidence.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos AnómalosSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos

Investigations typically involve comparing reported observations against multiple conventional sources, including:

Importantly, SEFAA distinguishes between an event that is “unidentified” and one that demonstrates something extraordinary. A case may remain unresolved simply because available evidence is incomplete or insufficient to reach a confident identification. Likewise, an investigation can conclude that no hazard to aviation existed even if the precise cause cannot be established. This distinction is central to understanding the office’s published findings.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAASEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAA

What the official records actually contain

Chile’s official archive is often cited in discussions about UFOs because the country has published numerous case summaries rather than keeping all investigations confidential. However, the contents of those records are more restrained than popular accounts sometimes suggest.

The archive contains a mixture of outcomes:

The existence of unresolved cases does not imply confirmation of exotic technology. Instead, it reflects the limits of the evidence preserved within each investigation. This cautious approach aligns with the office’s published methodology, which emphasises scientific analysis rather than speculative interpretation.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos AnómalosSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos

Transparency and public access

One feature that distinguishes Chile’s programme internationally is its relatively open publication policy. SEFAA regularly publishes summaries of completed investigations and maintains archives organised by year. Members of the public are also invited to submit new reports through an official reporting system, and the office states that reporters are informed about the progress of investigations when possible.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos AnómalosSEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos

This transparency has had two important effects. First, it allows independent researchers and sceptical analysts to review official conclusions rather than relying on rumours about classified files. Second, it exposes the investigative process itself, showing that many initially puzzling reports eventually receive conventional explanations after additional technical analysis.

What the records can—and cannot—establish

Chile’s official programme demonstrates that governments can investigate unusual aerial reports without presuming extraordinary causes. Its records provide evidence that pilots, controllers and ordinary citizens sometimes observe events that deserve careful examination from an aviation-safety perspective.

At the same time, the archive has important evidential limits.

The records can establish that witnesses reported unusual observations, that investigators examined available data and that some reports resisted definitive identification with the information available. They also document the methods used to eliminate conventional explanations in many cases.

They cannot establish that extraterrestrial spacecraft visited Chile. Neither CEFAA nor SEFAA has published evidence demonstrating that conclusion, and unresolved status has consistently meant that investigators lacked sufficient evidence for a positive identification rather than that they confirmed an extraordinary origin.[SEFAA]sefaa.dgac.gob.clSEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAASEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAA

For researchers studying UFO reports in Chile, this distinction is perhaps the programme’s greatest contribution. Rather than presenting unidentified aerial phenomena as proof of something unknown, the official archive illustrates how a civil aviation authority manages uncertainty, balances public interest with flight safety and documents both successful identifications and the unavoidable limits of available evidence.

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Endnotes

1. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: SEFAAHistoria – SEFAA
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/historia/

2. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: SEFAACasos resueltos – SEFAA
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/category/casos-resueltos/

3. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pS7qVF2lTQ

4. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: SEFAAQuiénes somos – SEFAA
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/quienes-somos/

5. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: SEFAASEFAA – Sección de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/

6. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: casos abril 2025
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/2025/05/06/casos-abril-2025/

Published: May 6, 2025

7. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: casos marzo 2025
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/2025/04/04/casos-marzo-2025/

Published: April 4, 2025

8. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Title: casos febrero 2025
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/2025/03/04/casos-febrero-2025/

Published: March 4, 2025

9. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/cefaa-dicto-charlas-en-retenes-fronterizos-del-norte-del-pais/

Published: July 21, 2023

10. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/con-nuevo-ano-nuevos-cambios-el-cefaa-pasa-a-ser-ahora-sefaa/

11. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/tag/sefaa/

12. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/formulario-de-reportes-de-fenomenos-aereos-para-el-siglo-xxi/

13. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/cefaa-un-modelo-investigativo-de-fenomenos-aereos-anomalos/

14. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/representantes-de-la-policia-de-diversos-paises-visitaron-el-cefaa/

15. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Title: CEFA A CELEBRA 21 AÑOS DE VIDA – DGAC | Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/cefaa-celebra-21-anos-de-vida/

16. Source: dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://www.dgac.gob.cl/cefaa-en-jornada-de-seguridad-operacional/

17. Source: museoaeronautico.dgac.gob.cl
Title: 9 dgac activa comite de estudios de fenomenos aereos anomalos
Link:https://museoaeronautico.dgac.gob.cl/2009/02/20/9-dgac-activa-comite-de-estudios-de-fenomenos-aereos-anomalos/

18. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/contacto/

19. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/noticias/

20. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/preguntas-frecuentes/

21. Source: sefaa.dgac.gob.cl
Link:https://sefaa.dgac.gob.cl/2025/page/2/

22. Source: escuelaaeronautica.gob.cl
Link:https://www.escuelaaeronautica.gob.cl/historia/

Additional References

23. Source: youtube.com
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf70imTsuuo

24. Source: youtube.com
Title: The Proof Is Out There: FLYING ORBS SPOTTED IN CHILE (Season 2) | History
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_DiUQ82kPk

25. Source: youtube.com
Title: Chile UFO Incident Case Info (Caso Collahuasi)
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpCPragpKyw

26. Source: atcchile.cl
Title: Charla sobre fenómenos aéreos anómalos
Link:https://www.atcchile.cl/post/charla-sobre-fen%C3%B3menos-a%C3%A9reos-an%C3%B3malos

27. Source: youtube.com
Title: Commercial aircraft detect UFO, Livor case ufology
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvQ1dLKDp5s