'Mile-wide UFO' spotted by British airline pilot

This is a sighting, I'm particularly fond of and only recently learnt of it. I did a search on ATS to see if other members discussed this already, but to no luck. If there is another thread on this, mods, please feel free to close this. But, even so, I think this thread can also serve as nice reminder.

"One of the largest UFOs ever seen has been observed by the crew and passengers of an airliner over the Channel Islands.

Aurigny Airlines captain Ray Bowyer, 50, flying close to Alderney first spotted the object, described as "a cigar-shaped brilliant white light".
As the plane got closer the captain viewed it through binoculars and said: "It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area.

"It was 2,000ft up and stationary. I thought it was about 10 miles away, although I later realised it was approximately 40 miles from us. At first, I thought it was the size of a [Boeing] 737.

"But it must have been much bigger because of how far away it was. It could have been as much as a mile wide."

What are some of your views on this matter? He's a very credible source and, because others have sighted it only adds to its' concrete evidence. Unfortunately, we do not have photos or video footage of the sighting. Was there any to begin with? I do not know, but no such footage has been released to the public.

The video interview with pilot, Ray Bowyer;


EDIT: Okay, I found another thread discussing the subject here and news report of the sighting here. However, I do not think the incident has gotten the recognition it deserves throughout the UFO community.

[edit on 15-3-2009 by sdrawkcabII]

I guess you didn't search good enough Been talked about before, also was on UFO hunters recently. I suggest you get onto their website or check local listings for a repeat of the programme. It was great!

"I do not think the incident has gotten the recognition it deserves throughout the UFO community."

What else do you want, it was featured on a TV show devoted to it. Its the main stream media that needs to take notice, not the UFO community. But lets talk about it again, why not!!!!!!!!!!!! I love elves, I mean Tro...

[edit on 15-3-2009 by atsbeliever]

reply to post by sdrawkcabII


So when did this incident happen?

It's weird that the Airline company actually encouraged him to go public about this , usually its the total opposite. Glad to see. This would never happen in the US. Good on him for telling everyone , he's obviously not lying why would any pilot go out of their way just to tell a UFO story when previous pilots have been fired for doing so.

reply to post by GEORGETHEGREEK


I'm not exactly sure to be honest. None of the reports I've read have stated. But, from the date of the reports...I'm guessing early 2007(between Jan-March) or late of 2006.

reply to post by nasacarl


I agree. Listening to the interview, I was actually shocked he was encouraged to go forward with the story. If they could have gotten some of the passenger witnesses and the other pilot who witnessed it to come forward, that would strengthened the story even further.

reply to post by atsbeliever


Well, as you can see from my initial post, I did find it on ATS, in fact, I found 2 stories on ATS. The first one I linked, the 2nd containing 6 or so posts. I was quite surprised it's been discussed before, as I've been a member here since 2004(my first username was simple "sdrawkcab") & have never came across this story. But, from the search results, the story was never really talked about much. The story seemed to get buried quickly under other topics.

But, I find it to be one of those classics that should be in the UFO archives. It's great stuff...very compelling witness testimony.

reply to post by sdrawkcabII






It's my favorite account of recent years.

reply to post by atsbeliever


I had not heard of it, but because you have, no-one else should because only trolls would bother to want to discuss such topics on a forum dedicated to things the mainstream media either mock or ignore entirely.

Right...

Very interesting case. Glad you did bring it up, sdrawkcabII !!

Originally posted by atsbeliever
I guess you didn't search good enough

Been talked about before, also was on UFO hunters recently. I suggest you get onto their website or check local listings for a repeat of the programme. It was great!

It was actually on cable here in the States 'today' March 15th, 2009.

Two passengers sitting in the front of the plane also viewed 'them'....as there were two of them. The 2nd one hovering over the island was smaller than the one described as being '1 mile long'.

crazy , as i havent heard i think its a nice find. great post

Originally posted by nasacarl
It's weird that the Airline company actually encouraged him to go public about this , usually its the total opposite.

Aurigny is a small airline company owned by the Guernsey Government, Guernsey being a small self-governing, non-European Union island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy (population 60,000) with an independent legislature and currency.

[edit on 16-3-2009 by EvilAxis]

Ok so its been discussed before, and its been on UFO hunters but......I for one appreciate you OP puting it back up on the thread board.

I for one believe that the more these incidents are posted on ATS no matter how many times the better educated the ufology community gets. So many posts are made on this site and fall by the wayside, without furthur discussion and research.

Whats interesting here is that (if I remember correctly) this 1 mile long cigar object was visable on radar for a brief moment. Therefore, I can only assume that this object wanted to be seen? (if they don't want they cloak, as explained in the same episode of ufo hunters by the french cometa pilot)

Interesting article/incident and thanks for bringing it back to ATS.

Doesn't anyone wonder a little about the chain of events?

Here we have sigthing of a significant sized UFO. The pilot and some of the passengers supposedly see it and that's it. NO DOCUMENTATION.

According to the interview (the pilot states) he lost sight of it as he descended through the haze layer.

Wouldn't YOU as a pilot tell the passengers - "Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking. We have spotted an unusual object and will circle a bit to get a better view. Please take out any cameras you may have and take all the pictures you can during the observation circling"?

Would you REALLY descend without getting confirmation as to what it was?
Come on now. Be realistic.

Some people say that pilots are valid witnesses because of their high level of responsibility.

This story shows that some pilots are less than intelligent.

Originally posted by HolgerTheDane
Would you REALLY descend without getting confirmation as to what it was?
Come on now. Be realistic.

This story shows that some pilots are less than intelligent.

It wasn't his lack of intelligence but fear as to the reason why he didn't investigate it further with his plane. He says how he was only too glad to get on the ground to have his 'cup of tea'.

He had passengers with him and they naturally should be his first priority. It's not to go on some investigative fly around, with some unknown object that may or may not be a threat to them all.

A few years ago in hull in the uk i saw the same shaped thing but it was jet black. must have been extremely high and huge. i thought it must have been loads of baloons but i noticed it was moving in the opposite direction to the clouds below it then it turned. it was moving way to slow to be an aircraft and it didnt have any wings

Originally posted by EvilAxis

Originally posted by nasacarl
It's weird that the Airline company actually encouraged him to go public about this , usually its the total opposite.

Aurigny is a small airline company owned by the Guernsey Government, Guernsey being a small self-governing, non-European Union island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy (population 60,000) with an independent legislature and currency.

[edit on 16-3-2009 by EvilAxis]

Yes it does remind one of "Nessy".

Commonsense would dictate that pilots make for very credible witnesses when it comes to UFO sightings. You would imagine a pilot would consider unusual sightings calmly & without emotion, to be detached almost & entirely rational. And that their testimony would be without any embellishment and be somehow more reliable than that of the average person.

But I wonder if that is the case ?

The most dangerous threat in flight is another aircraft in close proximity. Pilots seeing an unusual object must instinctively attribute "aircraft like" characteristics to it, simply because their experience in the cockpit has trained them to take swift action to avoid collision. It's their gut reaction.

The pilot here initially said that the UFO was "the size of a Boeing 737, perhaps twice the size". His eyes saw the object & his training and experience initially made him compare what he saw to an aircraft. When the pilot draws the UFO for the reporter he describes its "fuselage" and tries to describe features on it.

He doesn't appear to be considering any alternative explanation for what he saw, light reflections on clouds for example. His mindset says "aircraft" ... and his inability to explain what he saw turns this into a UFO with markings etc. Faced with a radar track which places the object many tens of miles away from his own aircraft's position he then extrapolates what he saw and guesses the object to be a mile wide.

I'd be interested to hear what pilots think about their own perception when in flight, whether they believe they have a better ability than the rest of us when it comes to explaining unusual phenomenon.

There is this natural presumption that because this was seen by a highly trained pilot then it must be true. Pilots, and other highly trained skilled people are just as likely to make a mistake when confronted with something out of the norm unexpectedly as anyone else. He's possibly flown that route for years without any problems and then suddenly he see's this object. . . It's unexpected and bizarre granted, but don't get too excited. This could have a normal explanation.

reply to post by EvilAxis


the inhabitants are known as donkeysand theres a nice old saying . red sky at night jersey mans delight, cos guernseys gone up in smoke

yea sure, a pilot who's flown that route for over 10 years and seen all types of weather conditions, he would surely know something out of the ordinary (a sunlight reflection of the water) to a solid mass in the sky.
And that theory is pretty much debunked on the UFO hunter show too so tell me another one.

More than 1 person saw the same thing, from very different directions & locations.

Sorry.]]

Originally posted by Mintwithahole.
There is this natural presumption that because this was seen by a highly trained pilot then it must be true. Pilots, and other highly trained skilled people are just as likely to make a mistake when confronted with something out of the norm unexpectedly as anyone else. He's possibly flown that route for years without any problems and then suddenly he see's this object. . . It's unexpected and bizarre granted, but don't get too excited. This could have a normal explanation.