Chilean Civil Aeronautics

The Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil (DGAC) is the civil aviation authority of Chile, responsible for regulating air traffic, aviation safety, and aviation infrastructure. Headquartered in Santiago, it operates under the Chilean Air Force's administrative umbrella.

UAP Investigation Role

The DGAC is the host institution for CEFAA (Comité de Estudios de Fenómenos Aéreos Anómalos), the Chilean Committee for the Study of Anomalous Aerial Phenomena, established in 1997 and re-constituted in 2010. CEFAA makes Chile one of the few countries with an officially sanctioned, civilian-led UAP-investigation body. Its 2010 re-establishment was led by retired general Ricardo Bermúdez and includes academics, military pilots, meteorologists, and astronomers.

Notable Cases

The DGAC/CEFAA has documented major Chilean UAP cases including the 2010 Santiago mass sighting where television stations filmed and radar tracked objects over the capital, the 2000 cigar-shaped object observed by Captain Rodrigo Bravo Garrido, and the 1988 Tepual Airport Boeing 737 near-collision. CEFAA case files have been shared with researchers such as Leslie Kean and formed the Chilean contribution to her 2010 book.