Inside the Radar Room: 26-Year Air Traffic Controller Jason Judy on UAP Sightings, Filtered Radar Data & the Chinese Balloon

What do air traffic controllers actually see on their scopes when pilots report unidentified aerial phenomena? In the premiere episode of the Safe Aerospace Podcast, former U.S. Navy F/A-18F pilot Ryan Graves sits down with Jason Judy, a 26-year FAA air traffic controller turned corporate pilot, for a rare inside look at how UAP appear — and disappear — inside America's air traffic control system.Jason pulls back the curtain on what controllers discuss off-frequency: near misses with falling NASA balloon payloads, nightly UAP reports during 2021–2023 that had watch desk managers saying "they're back," an American Airlines crew tracked by an object bouncing off their wing nearly all the way to Salt Lake, and the radar playback of the 2023 Chinese balloon incident — including data suggesting an object accelerated from a 28-knot drift to over 1,200 knots in roughly a minute.The conversation also digs into the systemic issues ASA works on every day: why primary radar returns are filtered out above 23,000 feet, why raw radar data is erased after just 45 days, how stigma keeps pilots and controllers from filing reports, and what happened to the thousands of aviation UAP reports that vanished into classified archives.In this episode:How ATC radar actually works: primary vs. secondary returns and ADS-BWhy controllers never see most UAP — the 23,000 ft filtering problemThe 45-day data destruction window and the case for preserving raw radarUAP reports "almost every night" on mid shifts, 2021–2023The Chinese balloon radar playback and a 1,252-knot acceleration analysisStigma, reporting culture, and where early-2000s UFO reports actually wentAbout the guest: Jason Judy spent 26 years as an FAA air traffic controller, beginning at Fort Worth Center in 1997, before retiring in 2023 to fly corporate aviation.About the show: The Safe Aerospace Podcast is produced by Americans for Safe Aerospace (ASA), the nonprofit founded by Ryan Graves dedicated to aviation safety, airspace transparency, and rigorous scientific investigation of UAP. Learn more, read pilot reports, and support our work at https://www.safeaerospace.orgJason will be joining ASA members for a live AMA after this episode airs, become a member at safeaerospace.org to submit your questions.