Jet Crew Tell Of Close Encounter With UFO
An unidentified object described as “a great red light in the sky” and “big as a battleship” has caused consternation in the skies over the North Sea. Pilots reported being buzzed by a “long, cylindrical object” at 28,000ft and one pilot and his crew described how the underside of their jet became bathed in an “incandescent light”.
The Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed that a comprehensive report of the sightings has been handed in, although both it and the Ministry of Defence deny that they are investigating it. The Luton-based plane, a Debonair BAe146, was flying company executives from Sweden to Humberside airport when, it is claimed, the object came to a sudden halt before speeding by the airliner in the incident on 3 February, 58 miles off the coast of Denmark.
I have today (5-4-99) obtained a copy of the official report by Debonair to the Civil Aviation Authority concerning the above sighting, which occurred on 3 February 1999. The report was filed as “a mandatory occurrence report” and the CAA were taking no further action as “there was no danger to the aircraft or passengers.”
A spokesman for Debonair said the pilot is currently on leave and a request has been put out for him to make a statement to the press when he returns. It was added that the pilot assumed the lights beneath the jet were those of another aircraft at the time they were seen. She said the company had been “snowed under” with inquiries from the press about the sighting.
The Debonair report to the CAA report reads:
“Unidentified bright light below BAe146 at FL280.
“Area below a/c illuminated for 10 seconds by incandescent light which was not considered by reporter to be an a/c landing light.
Reporter stated three other a/c reported seeing it moving at high speed or static. ATC informed but they reported no other a/c in vicinity. Five minutes later a radar return was present at 75 miles on weather radar. Atmosphere reported as stable and no other a/c were in vicinity.”
The aircraft involved was a British Aerospace 146, a small four engined jet flying on a chartered flight from Linkoping in Sweden to Humberside Airport in East Yorkshire.
The UFO was reported whilst the aircraft was flying at 28,000 feet, 58 miles off the Danish coast above the North Sea. Tracey Law, of Humberside Airport, said the report was made by the pilot to the CAA on landing, but there was “no mention made whatsoever of UFOs in the original report..it has since been embellished. It was not mentioned to us officially as it happened outside of our airspace.”
In particular she mentioned the description of the UFO as being “as big as a battleship” being manufactured by the press, Humberside Airport said they believed the sighting had been caused by “a light reflection from the underside of the jet.” Flight Lieutenant Tom Rounds of the RAF at the Ministry of Defence, Whitehall, said the MOD had learned of the report via the Press.
He said stories that the object had been tracked by RAF radar were “laughable” as the UK radar could not pick up objects 58 miles off the Danish coast.
Flt Lieut Rounds said the MOD were not investigating the report, and had not received any report concerning it from the CAA.
From David Clarke