Is this a legal case, or part of a UFO story?
Glazing, grazing. Whatever. You're talking about an airplane flying briefly through reflected light. Very briefly.
Is that your writing in the link you provided? It's written in a style and language more appropriate for the mid 1800's. If that's your target audience so be it, but it's not an easy read. Sort of like flossing with sandpaper.
It states: "In one sense it would be true to say that this seminal sighting of nine "peculiar looking aircraft" over the Cascade Mountains of Washington on June 24 1947 (see Appendix 1) needs little introduction." I don't know how seminal it was, but I've never heard of it, so it probably could use a little introduction for the average reader. Perhaps it was written for UFO buffs or x-file fanatics who love that sort of thing...but if written for anyone else, it really does need an introduction.
"...despite more than 60 years of sometimes scholarly debate about this hydra-headed mythological monster." Seriously?
"...that mythology has effloresced..." Now there's a word the average reader uses in every day conversation.
Are you asking questions about angles, ice, and reflection, or are you building a drama so big they'll need to bring back Charleton Heston to play the lead role (damn dirty glaciers...)?
The callair wasn't actually a "mountain" airplane, incidentally. It was just another aircraft, and the company is more famous for their agricultural endeavors, than "mountain" aircraft.
If you're expanding your article or story, more power to you. You can speculate as to what was seen that day, but that's about as far as you can go.
I'd say that many of us have seen things in flight we couldn't explain, but that does 't mean they're UFO's, and and it doesn't mean they're not. I've seen traffic on the North Atlantic routes that was obviously present, but not necessarily where it should have been. I couldn't identify it, but I'm sure someone else could.
A standing NOTAM has been out for unidentified military traffic south of Iran for some time now. Is it military? Is it a UFO? Who cares? It's traffic. Back at the time of Project Bluebook, it was quite the rage for the public, and it was an annoyance and a security concern for the military. Flying saucers were a hot topic. Today? Not so much.
Phoenix is famous for UFO sightings, but the truth is that the ones you'll see on the TV shows happen every night. Stand on a mountain and watch the aircraft lined up on the arrival. Not really such a great mystery after all.
I once flew a three-ship formation down across Arizona and into southern California. At one point one of us noticed a silver metalic object that didn't at all look like an aircraft, well above us, which appeared to be moving west. One of us attempted to climb up to it, but gave up. My best guess; some kind of balloon. Probably a mylar balloon. I never heard more about it. The appearance of westward movement was probably illusion, and it was probably a lot farther than we thought. Passing interest.
We see things from time to time. Sometimes we know what they are, sometimes not. Who can say, after its gone? I watched a meteor shower one night over Pakistan as I headed up into Afghanistan. I think I counted over a hundred. I'm sure there were many more. Under the right atmospheric conditions, who knows what someone else might have seen?
Yes, there are reflections off glaciers, off aircraft, off water, and even off the atmosphere. Shadows form, haze makes distances seem greater. Parallax makes one see things differently than they are, or at least differently than others see them.
You read the story, you see a multi-headed hydra monster. I read it I see a guy who saw something he couldn't explain. I suppose if we all get hung up on things we can't explain, we'll be hung up for a very long time. I exercise my one, sole superpower, which I like to call "I-dont'-care," and move on. The power of apathy is a great enabler, as it's the power to ignore.
Good luck with the project.