Category 11 Case Directory
  SIGHTINGS FROM AIRCRAFT 
 
  Preliminary Rating: 5  

                                   
     

AVCAT is a special project being conducted by NICAP, with the help and cooperation of the original compiler of AIRCAT, Dr. Richard Haines, and other sources, to create a comprehensive listing of sightings from aircraft with detailed documentation from these sources, including Projects SIGN, GRUDGE & BLUE BOOK.

Two Commercial Pilots Report Strange Object
April 23, 2007
Off the coast of Aldrney, New Channel Islands, UK
 3:00 local
Duration  9 mins
aircraft not given
United Kingdom
 Commercial
2 observers
No EMI
No radar contact

Fran Ridge:
April 23, 2007; Off the coast of Aldrney, New Channel Islands, UK
3:00 PM. Two experienced airline pilots on separate flights saw something up to a mile wide off the coast. Surprisingly, Jersey radar equipment did not pick up the object, although an air traffic controller said he had received simultaneous reports from the Aurigny and Blue Islands pilots. Aurigny's Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, said he saw the strange object during a flight from Southampton. He spotted a bright-yellow light 10 miles west of Alderney while his plane was about 30 miles from the island and at 4,000 feet. "'It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000 feet up and stationary," he said. "I thought it was about 10 miles away, although I later realized it was approximately 40 miles from us. At first, I thought it was the size of a 737.  (A 737 is slightly smaller than a jumbo jet). But it must have been much bigger because of how far away it was. It could have been as much as a mile wide."  As he continued his approach to Alderney, Capt. Bowyer saw a second identical object further to the west. "It was exactly the same but looked smaller because it was further away. It was closer to Guernsey."  Paul Kelly, 31, the air traffic controller who was on duty, said the Blue Islands pilot had made a similar report, but nothing had appeared on his radar. "The pilot from Blue Islands was en route to Jersey at the same time and as he went past Sark he described an object behind him to his left," he said. "The description was very similar to Captain Bowyer's and they described it as being in exactly the same place. But they were looking at it from opposite sides." The pilot told him the object had been 1,500 feet beneath his plane. The Blue Islands plane was at 3,500 feet at the time so, again, both pilots placed it at the same altitude. 9 mins

Detailed reports and documents
reports/20070423UK_jse_report.pdf (Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 291­308, 2008)


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