MANCHECTER UFO INCIDENT

Internet UFO Group Media Archive

From:Internet IUFO Group (IUFOG-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM)
Title:MANCHECTER UFO INCIDENT
Source:Reuter
Date:Feburary 03, 1996


LONDON (Reuter) - British UFO enthusiasts were delighted

Friday when an official committee admitted it was baffled by a

pilot's report of a lighted, wedge-shaped object flying near his

Boeing airliner.

``Despite exhaustive investigations the reported object

remains untraced,'' said the report by the Joint Airmiss Working

Group of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

A British Airways Boeing 737 was approaching Manchester

airport in northern England on Jan. 6 last year when Capt. Roger

Wills and co-pilot Mark Stewart saw the object.

It approached the right-hand side of the aircraft at high

speed from the opposite direction. ``The first officer (Stewart)

instinctively ``ducked' as it went by,'' the report said.

``It made no attempt to deviate from its course and no sound

was heard or wake (wind turbulence) felt. He felt certain that

what he saw was a solid object -- not a bird, balloon or kite.''

It said Wills described the object as having ``a number of

small white lights, rather like a Christmas tree.''

The report said the object was unlikely to have been a

military or light aircraft or a small flying device such as a

paraglider.

``To speculate about extra-terrestrial activity, fascinating

though it may be, is not within the group's remit and must be

left to those whose interest lies in that field,'' it said.

One British UFO enthusiast, Eric Morrison, who believes

unidentified flying objects may come from space, said he was not

prepared to leave the matter there.

``Now that the CAA have actually come out with this

statement saying that it was unidentified, we should go straight

back to them and try and get them to give us a further statement

and possibly even speak to the pilots,'' he told BBC television.