Section B · Military witness (pilot) · 1957–

Óscar Santa María Huertas

FAP Lieutenant (ret.) · combat pilot, Peruvian Air Force

Biography

Peruvian Air Force pilot who, on 11 April 1980, aged 23, scrambled from La Joya base (Arequipa) to intercept an object believed to be a spy balloon. He fired 64 rounds from his Sukhoi fighter with no effect and chased it for several minutes; closing in, he saw an opaque dome, like frosted glass, over a metal disc. His testimony —military, under protocol and documented— is one of Latin America's strongest.

Why they're here · 2 pieces

  1. 1980

    Incidente de La Joya (Arequipa)

    Intercepted and fired 64 rounds at a UAP from his Sukhoi, to no effect; documented military case

  2. 2010

    Testimonio en 'UFOs' (Leslie Kean)

    His account entered the international public record alongside other pilots and officials

Sources

Associated cases (1)

Peru.

La Joya · a Peruvian fighter fires at an object (Peru, 1980)· 1980

On April 11, 1980, at La Joya Air Base (Arequipa, Peru), Peruvian Air Force lieutenant Óscar Santa María Huertas scrambled in a Sukhoi Su-22 fighter to intercept an object the base initially took for a spy balloon. He fired 64 of his 140 rounds in a first burst that, by his testimony, the object seemed to absorb without damage; on the following attempts the object moved away just as he locked onto it. The object —described as about 10 meters across, with a shiny cream-colored dome over a silver circular base, like a cut light bulb— withstood 22 minutes of pursuit, was seen by hundreds of people at the base, and remained stationary for about two more hours. Santa María is the only documented pilot to have fired at an unidentified object.

A60%

Synthesized bio from the UAP disclosure ecosystem — categorized by epistemological section (A-F).