Canada reported unidentified aerial event — 1981-09-25 — Fort McMurray, AB

On 25 September 1981, at approximately 10:15 p.m. daylight-saving time, helicopter engineer Jack Blackburn reportedly watched an intense white light from Fort McMurray Municipal Airport, Alberta. The RCMP correspondence describes a clear sky, with the observation occurring several hours after sunset. The early message gives a duration of about five minutes; a later letter broadens that to five to ten minutes. Blackburn said the light moved erratically, changing direction suddenly rather than following a gradual curve. He strongly believed he had not seen an aircraft of familiar contemporary type. The recovered record does not describe a resolved outline, wings, windows, occupants, a landing or physical effects, and it provides no measured range or speed. His profession is relevant background, but does not itself establish the light's identity. The Fort McMurray Rural detachment forwarded the report to the NRC's meteor and planetary-sciences channels. Police explicitly described the witness's reliability as unknown and stated that no further similar reports had been received; they also did not know whether anyone else had observed it. The file was to be concluded unless investigators requested further information. The reconstruction therefore retains a single unresolved white light and the airport context, rather than turning an erratic-light report into a detailed spacecraft encounter.