Aguadilla, Puerto Rico — CBP thermal video, 25 April 2013

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection DHC-8 surveillance aircraft recorded approximately three minutes of thermal imagery showing a small, fast-moving object that crossed land, entered the ocean, and apparently split. The Council finds the official chain of custody intact and the object's behavior unresolved.

On the night of 25 April 2013, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) DHC-8 surveillance aircraft operating from Rafael Hernández Airport on the western tip of Puerto Rico recorded approximately three minutes of thermal infrared video showing a small, low-altitude object. The object crossed the airport, traversed land toward the coast, entered the ocean off Aguadilla, and — according to the most-cited frame-by-frame analysis — appeared to split into two objects before disappearing.

What is on the public record

• The thermal video itself, released through Freedom of Information Act request and publicly mirrored.
• Detailed analysis by the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies (SCU), a group of physicists, engineers, and former military analysts, who reconstructed the object’s trajectory using on-screen telemetry and concluded the speed and transmedium behavior were inconsistent with known platforms.
• Air traffic control suspension. Aguadilla airport briefly suspended a JetBlue departure due to the contact.
• No formal CBP statement identifying the object.

Mundane explanations considered

1. Lit-up balloon or paper lantern. The most-cited mundane candidate. SCU’s kinematic analysis argued the object’s calculated speed (~80–120 mph) and ability to enter and exit the water exceed the performance envelope of any balloon.
2. Bird or marine animal with unusual thermal signature. Possible for portions of the track but not for the apparent water entry.
3. Sensor artifact. The CBP thermal imager is a calibrated operational sensor; SCU’s analysis argues the object behaves consistently across the full clip rather than as a transient ghost return.
4. Drone. No publicly known consumer or commercial drone in 2013 was capable of the observed transmedium track.

Open questions

• Whether the airport’s primary radar registered the contact.
• Whether other aircraft in the area (including the JetBlue flight) had visual or sensor contact.
• The status of any internal CBP investigation report.

The Council’s verdict

Inconclusive. The Aguadilla case has the rarest combination in the UAP record: a calibrated official sensor, a documented chain of custody, and a behavior pattern (apparent water entry and emergence) that no widely-cited mundane explanation comfortably accounts for. SCU’s analysis is the most rigorous public treatment and concludes the kinematics are anomalous; we treat that as strong evidence without treating it as the final word.

For amateur thermal observation along U.S. coastal areas, the Pulsar Helion 2 XP50 is the consumer instrument closest to operational thermal sensors. Pair it with a Manfrotto 055 tripod for stable long-track recording.