Lear, John

Before he retired, John Lear (1942-30 march 2022) was a captain for a major charter airline, had flown 160 different types of aircraft in over 50 different countries.  He held 17 world speed records in the Lear Jet including speed around the world set in 1966 and is the only pilot ever to hold every airman certificate issued by the Federal Aviation Administration.

A former Nevada State Senate candidate, John was the son of William (Bill) P. Lear, designer of the Lear Jet executive aircraft, the 8-track stereo, and founder of Lear Inc. (now Lear-Siegler Corp., a large defense contractor).

Lear claimed to have flown missions worldwide for the CIA and other government agencies. He flew in Southeast Asia between 1966 and 1973 and had extensive experience in Europe, the Middle East, Afghanistan, the Far East, Africa, and the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. He has also flown experimental and production test flights for the Lear Jet Corp. and other companies.

Although Lear's father was outspoken in his belief of the existence of extraterrestrial visitors (to the great concern of the Pentagon particularly because Lear was a major defense contractor), Lear himself only became interested in the subject later on in life, after talking with United States Air Force personnel who had witnessed a UFO landing at Bentwaters Air Force Base near London, England, and 3 small aliens walking up to the wing commander. Lear's extensive worldwide civilian/military, and intelligence contacts have made it easier for him to research the subjects of what he calls, "Identified Alien Aircraft". "The government has always been correct in their pronouncements that UFOs did not represent a threat and that they did not represent advanced technology... but nobody ever asked them about Identified Alien Aircraft (IAC's) which sure as hell do!", comments Lear. Although deceptive, most government statements concerning UFO's have been essentially correct."

Lear was a controversial figure in Ufology, and many have raised questions about the reliability of his information. Lear, e.g., was one of the advocates of the theory that man has never set foot on the moon. Telling a good story also was more important to him than factual accuracy. For that reason, many researchers do not take him seriously.