FORMATION OF DISCS PASSES BELOW BRAZILIAN AIRLINER
By Dr. Olavo Fontes
The date was November 21, 1954. The Douglas PP-ANM from
National Airlines was flying from Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State,
toward Rio de Janeiro. Good visibility. Blue sky above the airliner and
some clouds below.
The plane was at 9,000 feet, flying over the Paraiba Valley
near the town of Paraiba do Sul, when the copilot saw the UFOs. The
time was 11:30 a.m. Commander Armando Braulino (copilot), Commander
Pedro Luiz Teixeira (pilot), Mr. Vicente B. Marques (steward) and Jose
E. Caldeira (radio-operator) were the chief witnesses.
The UFO formation came from the northeast flying at 7,200
feet, passed just below the airliner at high speed, and disappeared
toward the southwest. ...The plane was moving [in a North-South]
direction and the UFO formation crossed just under it.
The objects did not rotate, seemed to be of aluminum (or a
similar metal) and under the sunlight showed a bright,
polished surface. They were shaped like disks with a kind of cupola (or
dome) on top. They might be compared (in shape) to a soldier helmet
with a large rim around the convex part.
There was a larger one at the center of the formation -
the "squadron chief" - and the others were grouped around it at
close distance. The whole formation was about 120 feet in diameter and
each object measured about 15 feet in diameter. There was a strange
bluish glow around each UFO and around the whole formation. .The UFOs showed no propellers, jet-tubes, wings, tails or
protruding fins. ... Some passengers came to the airliner windows still
in time to watch the fleet of 15 disk-shaped objects, but others came
too late and saw nothing. The sighting lasted about 40 or 50 seconds.
It was said that the passengers panicked, but the pilot (talking to the press) dismissed this version as false. ... there was no hysteria. (From a letter to Alexander D. Mebane, Nov. 23, 1958) |