UFO flap

{{Short description|Sudden increase in UFO reports over a period of time.}}

A UFO flap is a rash of reports of unidentified airborne objects.Ruppelt (1956) defines flap as "a condition or situation, or state of being of a group characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not yet reached panic proportions" Flap,{{wiktionary-inline|flap#English: controversy}} originally a military term to describe a "period of panic or chaos", is used by ufologists to describe surges of sightings in one geographical area.{{cite book |last=Clarke |first=David |author-link=David Clarke (journalist) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K_R0CQAAQBAJ |title=How UFOs Conquered the World: the History of a Modern Myth |date=2015 |publisher=Aurum Press Ltd |isbn=978-1-78131-472-2 |location=London}}{{cite book |last1=Jenzen |first1=Olu |last2=Munt |first2=Sally R. |title=The Ashgate Research Companion to Paranormal Cultures |date=23 March 2016 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Of7OCwAAQBAJ&dq=%22ufo+flap%22&pg=PA84 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-04219-8 |access-date=21 December 2024}} Longer surges spanning multiple countries may be called waves.{{cite book |last1=Eghigian |first1=Greg |title=After the flying saucers came: a global history of the UFO phenomenon |date=2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York, NY |isbn=9780190092054 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0VoIEQAAQBAJ&q=After+the+Flying+Saucers+Came.+A+Global+History+of+the+Ufo+Phenomenon |pages=9, 83, 223}} Reported sightings of UFOs, public interest in them, and news coverage are highly variable in frequency. The terms UFO, flap, and wave allow for sightings of various unrelated phenomena in the night sky to be discussed as if they are parts of the same aerial event.The use of the term wave was originally based on the idea that the spikes in sightings could be connected to Earth's proximity to Mars or another planet. Attempts to predict flaps via astronomy did not support this idea. In 1967, Charles Hugh Smiley compared the 14 most ideal 10-day windows to travel between Mars and Earth and compared these periods to sightings reported to Project Blue Book; Smiley found no correlation. See: {{cite journal |last=Kottmeyer |first=Martin |title=UFO Flaps: An Analysis |journal=The Anomalist |issue=3 |date=Winter 1995–96 |pages=64–89 |url=https://www.anomalist.com/print/cont3.html}}

Documenting the provenance of the idea of UFO flap, Wired journalist Sarah Scoles identified how the term was first associated with the 1947 flying saucer craze:

Arnold's sighting, however he felt about it, began an epidemic. Soon, other people around the US started to see their saucers. The night sky opened up, kicking off a ufological period insiders refer to as a "flap": a period of increased sightings. The term also has the contextual tinge of the word's other definition, "an increased state of agitation." Edward Ruppelt, an Air Force officer who would go on to be part of governmental UFO investigations, wrote that "in Air Force terminology a 'flap' is a condition, or situation, or state of being of a group of people characterized by an advanced degree of confusion that has not quite yet reached panic proportions." In this case, the people were not yet panicking about strange sights in the sky.

If Arnold hadn't said a word, history probably would have nevertheless been set on a similar course. Someone else's sighting would likely have catalyzed a similar flap—a year later, maybe two, or five. All events unfold in a cultural medium, after all. And the medium of Arnold's time—colored by the fear of outsiders, fear of invasions, and awe of technology, just like today—was fertile ufological ground. Perhaps, in a world without Arnold's encounter, people would have described "the phenomenon" differently. Perhaps we wouldn't have the term "flying saucer" at all. Maybe it would have been pancakes or spheres. But Arnold and saucers are what we've got. So the flap that followed—and, really, all flaps to follow—bear his imprint, however faint.{{Cite news |last=Scoles |first=Sarah |title=How UFO Sightings Became an American Obsession |url=https://www.wired.com/story/how-ufo-sightings-became-an-american-obsession/ |access-date=2025-01-07 |work=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}

UFO flaps can be exacerbated by hoaxers taking advantage of the flurry of interest.{{Cite news |last=Moran |first=Rick |date=1984-10-21 |title=SKEPTICAL BUT OPEN-MINDED ON THE QUESTION OF U.F.O.'S |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/10/21/nyregion/skeptical-but-openminded-on-the-question-of-ufos.html |access-date=2025-01-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}