Tlalpan, Mexico being encounter — May 3, 1974

Pilot Carlos Antonio de los Santos Montiel reported three small disc-shaped objects close to his Piper PA-24 while flying from Zihuatanejo toward Mexico City. He described one object on each side and another passing beneath the aircraft, followed by difficulty controlling the plane and operating its landing gear. Montiel radioed the airport about the emergency. Accounts connect his report with unexplained radar returns and say that he regained control after the objects departed, eventually landing safely. Those radar descriptions should be distinguished from the pilot's direct visual account and from later stories about threatening visitors. The inherited Atlas entry dates this to May 3, 1974. NICAP's dedicated case page instead uses May 3, 1975, and explicitly identifies a one-year error in older versions; later Mexican reporting also uses 1975. The plate follows the better-supported year while preserving the source conflict here. It depicts the aircraft encounter without adding visible occupants, weapons, or a collision that can be independently established from the image.