Scientific Study of Unidentified Flying Objects (the Condon Report, complete, three volumes)

Prof. HynE'k. strongly bel ievc5 that the teams ~'.h()uld have four or
mort" members. lIe recommends giving each report what he calls the "J:IH
treatment," by which he means not only thorough interviewing of the
persons who made the report, but in addition an active quest in the
fieighborhood where the sighting occurred to try to di5cove~ additional
witnesses. A.gainst such thoroughness must be balanced the considera-
tion that the cost per case goes up proportionately to the number of
persons in a team, so that the largeI the team, the fewer the cases
that can be studied.
The detailed discussions in Section tTl, Chapter 1 and ill Section
IV make it clear that the field work is associated with many frustra-
tions. Many of the trips turn out to be wild goose chases and the
team members often feel as if they are members of a fire department
that mostly answers false alarms.
We found that it was always worthwhile to do a great deal of
initial interviewing by long distance telephone. A great many reports
that seem at first to be worthy of full field investigation could be
disposed of in this way with comparatively little trouble and expense.
Each case presented 1LS OWII special problems. No hard-and-fast rule
was found by which to decide in advance whether a particular report was
worth the trouble of a field trip.
After careful consideration of these various factors. we decided
to operate with two-man teams, composed whenever possible of one person
with training in physical science and one with training in psychology.
When the study hecame fully operational in 1967 we had three such teams.
Dr. Roy Cra~g describes the work of these teams in Se~tion Ill. Chapters
I, 3, and 4. Reports of fiold investigations are presented in Section
IV.
7. Explaining UFO r~epo!'ts
By definition UFOR exist because UFO reports exist. What makes the
\\'hol", subject intri,!),uing is the pos"lbility that some of these reports
cannot be reconciled with ordinary explanations, 5U that some
24
Prof. 1I)'ne-k :;trol\gly \.e! ievcs that thc teams ~;h()uld have four or
11101'1" members. III" re-commends giving each report what he calls the "FBf
treatment.," by which he means not only thorough interviewing of the
persons who made the report, but in addition an active quest in the
~eighborhood where the sighting occurred to try to di~coveT additional
witnesses. Against such thoroughness must be balanced the considera-
tion that the cost per case goes up proportionately to the number of
persons in a team, so that the largel the teanl, the fewer the cases
that can be studied.
The detailed discussions in Section 111 I Chapter 1 and ill Section
IV make it clear that the field work is associat~d with many frustra-
tions. Many of the trips turn out to be wild goose chases and the
team members often feel as 1 f they are members of a f1 re department
that mostly answers false alarms.
We found that it was :dways worthwhi Ie to do a great deal of
initial interviewing by long distance telephone. A great many reports
that seem at first to be worthy of full field investigation could be
disposed of in this way with comparatively little trouble and expense.
Each case presented 1LS OW)! special problems. ~o hard-and-fast rule
was found by which to decid~ in advance whether a particular report was
worth the trouble of a field trip.
After ca~eful consideration of these various factors, we decided
to operate with two-man teams, composed whenever po~sible of one person
with training in physical science and one with training in psychology.
When the study hecame fully operational in 1967 we had three such teams.
"r. Roy Cr~~g describes the work of these teams in Se~tion 111, Chapters
I, 3, and 4. Reports of fiold investigations are presented in Section
IV.
7. Explaining UFO l·:eports
By defini tion UFOs exist because UFO reports exi st. What makes thE'
Id101", subject intriguing is the pos'ilbility that some of these reports
cannot be reconciled with ordinary explanations, SQ that some
24