Emil J. Smith was a commercial airlines captain employed by United Airlines who, on July 4th, 1947, had a UFO encounter of his own. He took off from  Boise, Idaho with a destination of Pendleton Oregon at 9:04 p.m. in Flight 105. Approximately 8 minutes later Smith's copilot First Officer Ralph Stevens turned on the landing lights to ensure what he believed were nearby aircraft could see them. 

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Newspaper accounts agree Smith, Stevens, and stewardess Marty Morrow saw the aircraft, but the stories of what the men actually saw vary. In one article Stevens says he saw four or five objects, with one larger and more distant than the others. The objects were described as "thin and were smooth on the bottom and rough appearing on the top", but Smith was unable to determine if they were oval or saucer-shaped, or what their size was. Two other newspapers described the objects as flat and circular, which seems to contradict the report of Smith's uncertainty regarding a saucer-like shape. One of those articles even quotes Smith saying "they are bigger than aircraft" despite Smith's statement that he wasn't sure of their size, and suggests there were actually up to nine aircraft observed.

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Kenneth Arnold met Smith the day after the incident, and in Arnold's book The Coming of Saucers he states Smith told him there were nine aircraft, flat and circular, which were larger than his own plane. Arnold also wrote that on the day he was interviewed by Military Intelligence officers, he introduced the officers to Smith, as Arnold had plans to meet Smith that evening, and the officers had planned to interview Smith eventually. Smith was later invited by Arnold to participate in the interview of Harold Dahl and Fred Crisman regarding their own UFO experience. Smith agreed, as Dahl and Crisman lived in Tacoma, Washington, just south of Smith's residence in Seattle.

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The relevant documents are below.