was an experienced pilot.

"You don't believe that?" I said.

"No," Blake said. "I figure it was some new type of guided missile. If
it took as many G's as Chuck, my copilot, thinks, then it must have
been on a beam and remote-controlled."

Later, I found two other pilots who had the same idea as Chuck. One
captain was afraid the flying saucers were Russian; his copilot
thought they were Air Force or Navy. I met one airline official who
was indignant about testing such missiles near the airways.

"Even if they do have some device to make them veer off," he said, "I
think it's a risk. There'll be hell to pay if one ever hits an
airliner."

"They've been flying around for two years," a line pilot pointed out.
"Nobody's had a close call yet. I don't think there's much danger."

When I left the Coast, I flew to New York. Ken Purdy called in John
DuBarry, True's aviation editor, to hear the details. Purdy called him
"John the Skeptic." After I told them what I had learned Purdy nodded.

"What do you think the saucers are?" asked DuBarry.

"They must be guided missiles," I said, "but it leaves some queer gaps
in the picture."

I had made up a list of possible answers, and I read it to them: