Mysterious ‘Dorito-Shaped’ Aircraft Spotted at Night Near Area 51 - The Aviationist

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Thermal image of the "Dorito" spotted near Area 51 by Anders Otters of Uncanny Expeditions (Image credit: Otters/Uncanny Expeditions)

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A nighttime thermal image captured during flight activity involving a B-2 Spirit shows a sharply triangular aircraft that resembles an unexplained platform photographed over Wichita in 2014.

Anders Otteson, the man behind the popular Uncanny Expeditions YouTube channel (that we have featured before here at The Aviationist), spotted something particularly intriguing during his latest trip to the Groom Lake area. While camping along Groom Lake Road and monitoring nighttime flight activity, early on Jan. 14, 2026, Otteson captured thermal imagery of a sharply triangular, “Dorito-shaped” aircraft operating in the restricted airspace surrounding Area 51. “Dorito” is a nickname commonly used by observers to describe an aircraft with a sharply triangular shape.

Otteson is not a casual observer. A videographer, explorer, and content creator, he routinely sets up camp in remote and unlikely locations with the specific goal of documenting activity rarely seen by the public. His epic expeditions into the deserts surrounding Groom Lake and other classified sites combine long nights in the field with thermal imaging equipment, optical sensors, and scanner monitoring, offering a unique perspective on flight activity associated with stealth aircraft and black programs.

However, the latest sighting is even more interesting than usual, as the aircraft he spotted flying at night over Nevada bears a striking resemblance to the now somewhat famous triangular aircraft photographed in daylight over Wichita, Kansas, in 2014, an image that, as our analysis at the time showed, appeared to be legitimate and unaltered.

The two mysterious aircraft spotted over Texas and Kansas in 2014. (Image credit: The Aviationist based on Muskett and Templin shots)<br>In fact, as our readers may remember, in 2014 we reported about an aircraft with a distinctly triangular planform was photographed in broad daylight over Wichita, Kansas. The image, captured by a local observer, showed a large, dark, flying wing-like aircraft with proportions that did not correspond to any known operational type. At the time, we noted that Wichita’s proximity to major aircraft manufacturing and testing facilities, combined with the then-recent tensions with Russia following the invasion of Crimea, made the sighting particularly intriguing.

Noteworthy, although it had been taken in February 2014, the image of the mysterious triangular aircraft over Wichita was released in April 2014, roughly one month after another intruguing sighting: on Mar. 10, 2014 Steve Douglass and Dean Muskett took some photographs of three mysterious planes flying at very high altitude over Amarillo, Texas. The images of the three aircraft showed what looked like an almost boomerang-shaped plane, equipped with two engines (or at least two exhaust nozzles), bearing some resemblance, although not identical, to the aircraft spotted over Kansas.

Every time a new aircraft is unveiled, I can’t help but think back to the mysterious sightings over Wichita and Amarillo in 2014 (Story here: https://t.co/25v5yi04aI). Now, with the first rendering of the F-47 unveiled and confirmation that it has been flying for five years, one… pic.twitter.com/C2Rl0wSsVX

— David Cenciotti (@cencio4) March 21, 2025

Despite years of speculation, no official explanation was ever offered, and the aircraft over Wichita was never publicly identified nor seen again. What makes the recent Area 51 sighting noteworthy is how closely the thermal image aligns with that earlier photograph, despite being captured more than a decade later, under completely different conditions, and with an entirely different sensor.

"I was camping near Groom Lake Rd, the road leading to the front gate to Area 51," Anders told us in a message. "I heard what sounded like multiple aircraft in the valley. There were no visible lights so I began scanning around the sky for a while with a thermal imager. Eventually a B-2 passed overhead, and I then saw a second contrail above the ridge line near groom lake but it was out of range to get a clear picture of it. I moved down the road a bit, closer to the base and scanned the sky again, getting lucky and landing on this aircraft. The trailing edge immediately looked different than the B-2, in which the distinctive jagged trailing edge was visible."

While the image, captured with an AGM TM50-640 thermographic camera, may be affected by distance-related distortion, the shape of the “Dorito” appears markedly different from that of the B-2 Spirit stealth bomber, suggesting it was a completely different type. Even allowing for some distortion, the planform still appears triangular. Moreover,...