Congratulations. After my many years of research of aerial phenomena, The Argus (September 3) has been able to determine that whatever the police chopper was chasing was crewed by "little green men".

This is a standard cop-out phrase used by many reporters who are saddled with a UFO story.

Your use of the term displayed a lack of professionalism far below that of the highly trained police helicopter pilot and crew.

It took guts to come out and tell this story. Unfortunately, you did not have the guts to treat it like a story.

"Now their video is being pored over by UFO enthusiasts around the world in the belief it could provide evidence of life on other planets."

If you understood anything about the air regulations governing the use and violation of airspace, you would know there are going to be more than "UFO enthusiasts" looking at this thermal imaging.

This was what is known in aviation as a "near-miss" and was as serious as if another aircraft had come into close proximity to an aircraft already at the height limit over a populated area.

Airline and private pilots have been reporting near-misses and air-regulation violations in the tens of thousands for 70 years. It is a very serious safety issue.

Your lowering it to a "fluff piece" completely ignores the serious implications of this encounter and embarrassed the pilots and crew into the bargain.

-Don Ledger, pilot and author, Canadian affiliate NARCAP dledger@ns.sympatico.ca