Human brains are really poor at interpreting new brief visual stimulus &quot;correctly&quot;. Furthermore, our first impression can affect the perception of the stimulus even if it lasts several seconds.<p>I&#x27;m 36, and visually quite acute. I&#x27;ve seen my visual system doing the craziest interpretations in various situation, and observed my interpretation of a visual field completely changed by a sudden re-interpretation of some small detail.<p>Given proper conditions I could have interpreted these as apparitions, ghosts, materializations or whatnot. The difference is, all of these situations happened in calm mundane situations where I had the luxury to pause and look at the thing for a long while and figure it out.<p>The craziest was a low-lit room where I saw the patterns of a carpet as my son, walking. I had woken at night and presumed it was because my kid was awake. When I came closer I realized it was the carpet.<p>If I can mistake a rug for a human being I do not find it unlikely that a pilot trained to be aware of bogeys to interpret unexpected stimulus first as a vehicle (this interpretation is very hard to shake off).