SOBEPS gives this information:
At approximately 06:45 p.m., Mrs. G. and her daughter Caroline exited a car in Aubel, and saw a very bright object flying toward them.
This object passed almost vertically above them.
They told themselves that it can not be a plane, because the shape was so weird, the altitude too low, and the speed too slow.
The object emitted a steady, but deaf, sound.
It was going Southeast to Northeast.
In Aubel also and at approximately 06:45 p.m. also Mr. D. observed a bright object passing very slowly at low altitude.
It had three powerful headlights, facing the ground. His wife and his son saw it too.
It mades no noise, not even when it went away in a “terrible” acceleration.
Source:
Another report, in the Flying Saucer Review, indicates for this observation:
Again, at about 1845 hrs., but further to the East, Mme Gossens and her daughter Caroline observed an object flying very slowly overhead, from SE to NW. the thing was described by them as consisting of two points, each bearing two lights, plus a third point, with only one light.
The magazine publishes this sketch right below this report:
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Source:
There is a summary for this observation, published on the web by the Belgian ufologist Godelieve Van Overmeire in her catalog circa 1999, now gone, but much copied by UFO websites and forums. This summary is as follows:
1989, November 29
BELGIUM, Aubel
At approximately 06:45 p.m. Mrs. G and her daughter Caroline get out of a car and see a strong lit object flying toward them. It passes virtually at their vertical. The object emits a steady but deaf sound. It flies very low, very slowly and heads to the NW. Three other witnesses in Aubel see at 06:45 p.m. a bright object passing very slowly at low altitude. It has three powerful headlights facing the ground. There is no noise, not even when it went away with a terrible acceleration. (VOB 1 - SOBEPS 1991, p. 30)
Source example:
Renaut Leclet, in his “study” published in 2008, arguing for helicopters as main or at least frequent explanation of the “Belgian UFO flap”, wrote:
In Aubel, northwest of Baelen, it is another craft that is seen at 06:40 p.m.. It flies slowly, at low altitude, with a regular and deaf noise. The flight direction is southeast to northwest. It is again possible that this is the same helicopter.
Source:
| 06:40 p.m. | |
| 06:50 p.m. | |
| 07:00 p.m. | |
| 07:10 p.m. |
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Above:
Localization of Aubel (red dot) relative to Battice, Eupen, Verviers...
The description by Mrs. Gossens and the corresponding skecth irresistibly suggest they just saw a plane. But on the other hand, they did consider a plane and dismissed it based on three observations. It is therefore possible that it was a plane, but to make a certainty of this seems a bit bold.
By these three observations that they thought excluded it was a plane, one might think that it was a helicopter. We can note that if the form was too weird for an airplane, is may be that it was the form of a helicopter. Presumably, flying too slowly for an airplane is again a clue that it could have been a helicopter. And the same applies with the altitude too low for an airplane.
Note that in this observation, the witness does not seem to have considered the helicopter explanation, and did not seem to have discarded it, contrary to what happened in a number of the other sightings then and there.
The only available evidence that would put doubt on a helicopter comes from Mr. D., when he says the thing went away with a “terrible” acceleration but without any noise.
The whole case is unfortunately only briefly documented - there may be more in the SOBEPS file - there is no angular sizes or duration, angular velocity, etc. And it is not certain that the two groups of witnesses describe the same phenomenon.
So this time, it is not possible to formally rule out a helicopter, as claimed by Renaud Leclet, on the basis of the information that is available to me for now.
Note however that once again, Renaud Leclet took in the stories the parts that confirm his idea and left away those that don't, he does not mention the silent flight reported by Mr. D.
Finally, at the risk of getting some scoffing, I want to mention a potential similarity with an oddity noted in another case. Unfortunately I have to be brief, and I can not allow myself to be too specific about my sources and the witnesses.
In August 2002, I received an email from a woman in Strasbourg, who stated she had just seen a craft that puzzled her in the sky Strasbourg. Though I was considering that it could have been an ordinary plane or helicopter, I had the opportunity to have UFO investigators from that city I knew to be serious investigators visit the lady to get a better idea of what she might have seen.
Following their investigation and a call to more witnesses in the press, and despite the fact that the newspaper gave a wrong phone number, the investigatoes were then contacted by, and interviewed, more than thirty independent witnesses describing a large dark flying machine, fyling across the whole city of Strasbourg and beyond, at a very low height. A device whose description was so very similar to the famous large flying platform of the “Belgium flap.” And certainly neither a plane nor an helicopter nor a blimp.
A very special characteristic was then described to me by the coordinator of these investigations.
Witnesses watching the object laterally said it was totally silent.
Some of the witnesses who were flown over, abovehead, had told how they heard or felt almost physically a very low sound or pulse. To my fellow investigator, it was as if the craft emitted some kind of vibration, but only straight underneath the craft, it did not spreads to the sides.
In these two reports from Aubel, we have the lady overflown by the craft lady describing a “steady but deaf” sound, whereas Mr. D., who did not say he had been flown over, seems surprised that he did not hear any sound from the object.
Of course maybe he heard nothing because he was too far away, unlike the lady. However, I guess it was not useless to mention this alternative, that of a craft “projecting” a dull vibration right at the ground below, no noticeable from the sides. Maybe this odd characteristic can be found in some other sighting reports?
| Version: | Created/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | September 7, 2013 | Creation. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | September 7, 2013 | First publication. |
