A YouTuber camping in the Nevada desert just filmed what UFO researchers have been calling “the Dorito” — a flat, equilateral triangle that doesn’t match any known stealth bomber — flying over Area 51 at three in the morning.
And the best part? Military radio scanners picked up transmissions full of code words like “pretzel snack,” “corona pretzel snacks zero with cheese,” and “fridge hydrate.”
Apparently, when you’re flying experimental aircraft over the most secretive military base in America, you communicate in Applebee’s menu items.
Anders Otteson Was Just Trying to Film the Desert
Anders Otteson — a backpacker and videographer who runs a YouTube channel called Uncanny Expeditions — was camped in Tikaboo Valley on January 14, on public land near Groom Lake Road, which overlooks Area 51’s restricted airspace. Around 1am local time, he spotted what appeared to be a B-2 Spirit stealth bomber flying overhead from the northwest.
Two hours later, a second aircraft performed a low flyover from the same direction. This one was different. Flatter trailing edge. No jagged rear section. No wings. Just a smooth, equilateral triangle gliding through the night sky like a geometric fever dream.
The Area 51 Dorito aircraft — a nickname that somehow stuck after sightings in 2014 — was back.
This Isn’t the First Time the Dorito Has Shown Up
Twice in 2014, photographers caught the same triangle-shaped object on camera. Jeff Templin in Wichita, Kansas. Steve Douglas in Amarillo, Texas. Both showed similar unidentified aircraft that looked unlike known Air Force planes or drones.
The main difference this time? Otteson filmed it directly over Area 51 — the Nevada Test and Training Range that’s been tied to UFO sightings since the 1950s, back when the F-117 Nighthawk was still classified and people thought they were seeing aliens instead of experimental stealth bombers.
Area 51 has been involved in the development and testing of revolutionary aircraft for decades. The U-2 spy plane. The SR-71 Blackbird. The F-117. All of them were once “UFOs” until they weren’t.
So the question is whether the Dorito is just the next generation of stealth tech — or something else entirely.
The Radio Chatter Was Straight Out of a Deli Menu
While Otteson was filming, fellow UFO researcher Joerg Arnu’s scanner was monitoring Area 51’s unencrypted radio frequencies. Military personnel were heard using words like “pretzel snack,” “profile Michelob,” “Imperial with garlic,” and “fridge hydrate” to mask what they were saying.
Which is either a brilliant operational security move or the result of someone letting the intern write the code words.
Either way, it’s a far cry from the usual military jargon you’d expect over a classified airspace. Then again, if you’re testing a plane that looks like a snack food, maybe it’s thematically consistent.
Triangle-Shaped UFOs Are Everywhere
According to the National UFO Reporting Center, there have been 10 UFO sightings throughout the US in January alone that mention a triangle-shaped object flying overhead. Since November 2024, there have been 85 triangle-shaped UFO reports worldwide — including in the UK, Canada, Germany, and Brazil.
Most of those sightings involved bright or flashing lights that could be seen clearly by witnesses on the ground. The Dorito over Area 51, by contrast, was dark. Silent. No lights. Just a shape moving through the night.
Which suggests it’s either a classified military aircraft on a test flight — or someone’s been watching too much X-Files and decided to build their own.
So What Is It?
The familiar flight path, the military radio codes, and the location all point to the craft being manmade. A classified test flight. A run-of-the-mill training sortie. Just another Tuesday night at Area 51.
But the fact that it doesn’t match any known Air Force planes or drones — and that it’s been spotted multiple times over the past decade — means someone, somewhere, is working on something they’re not ready to talk about yet.
And until they do, we’re stuck calling it the Dorito.