On February 2, 1967, a civil transport aircraft with 52 passengers and 7 crew members among them commander and pilot Oswaldo Sanvitti, flew from Piura in the north of Peru bound for Lima, the capital of this country. Oswaldo Sanvitti was a very experienced, who had logged 22.000 hours of flight. Among the passengers were colonel Alberto Rosell of the Peruvian Army, Elmer Nunez, editor of a Peruvian newspaper, Jorge Santa Maria Calderon, senior professor at the School of Engineers at the University of Piura.
The plane was a four-engined propeller DC-4 from Fawcett Peruvian Airlines, and it had left Piura for half an hour and flew over the town of Chiclayo, when captain Sanvitti saw something unusual:
"We were at an altitude of 7,000 feet when I suddenly noticed a luminous object to the right of the plane. It was beginning to get dark and the object, which emitted a very strong light, was shaped like a reversed cone. It was more or less at eight miles (12 kilometers) from the plane, flying at the same speed, same altitude and keeping the same direction. In other words, it was flying in line with our plane as if it wanted to observe us closely. As I was observing it myself, I saw it making a number of movements, all of which were done at a fantastic speed. It darted vertically in the air several times and then returned to its original place. I alerted my crew and then I told the passengers to watch the UFO. I told them that, in my opinion, it was observing us."
So at 06:30 P.M., his voice came over the plane's intercom:
"Call to all! Look by the portholes on our right; there is a strange object there and it observes us; it is a UFO."
The majority of the 52 passengers and the six other members of the crew looked at the sky and saw a spectacle which left them stunned: a luminous machine of conical shape, not resembling anything they ever saw before, flew at high speed near the plane.
The plane's radio was then suddenly scrambled, not emitting anything more that crackling, and the lights of the cabin faded. During the hour which followed, the passengers and the crew observed, in fear and astonishment, the machine literally dance around their plane.
While Sanvitti did not manage to contact the tower in Lima, the director of the airport there, Edwin Boris, was also anxious. He told:
"I was very worried by the fact that Capt. Sanvitti was not in touch with us. I was unable to make any communication either with him or his plane."
The object sparkled sharp flashes of varied colors, red, orange, blue, white. It went up and down, and jumped from one edge of the plane to the other. When it was close, the passengers and the crew, frightened, saw that its base was in the shape a of funnel.
Sanvitti reported:
"During some time, the object accompanied us on our right, performeng from time to time manoeuvres of rise and descent but still following a flight always parallel with our plane."
"Then, suddenly, it came towards us like an arrow and passed above the plane. By doing this, it launched flashes of sharp colors. When it approached the plane, there were a bluish light at its higher part and a red light by below. But when it rose and passed above the plane, the light became red for the blue one and orange for the red. I saw that its lower part was in the shape of a funnel. I estimated that its diameter at its higher and largest part was 230 feet. After having passed above us, the UFO set on our left at a distance from two miles of the plane. The lights, on the aircraft, had become very weak. I did not stop trying to start the radio, but I could get absolutely nothing out of it."
Elmer Nunez, chief editor of a Peruvian newspaper, which had been on board, stated:
"We flew over Chiclayo when the pilot told us over the intercome to look at the right of plane and that we could see an object which observed us, a UFO. My seat was on the right side, I turned the head, looked towards outside, and saw a very luminous object. It was approximately 06:30 P.M. The object drew the attention of all by its glare and its vertiginous speed. It went up and went down by jumps so fast that it was difficult to follow it with the eyes. By loudspeaker, the commander shouted: "It goes on our left now." I went towards the left side and saw the object again. It was very close to us. It had the shape of a spinning top in rotation. It launched orange flashes by its bottom part. The UFO remained there, to observe us, during one hour. There was light in the plane, but it was very weak. The night had fallen when the commander told us: "it moves away from the plane." The apparatus, launching very sharp flashes, rushed up and disappeared at an incredible speed."
Nunez continued:
"Many passengers were terrified, and that some women were at the edge of hysteria. A woman suddenly burst in sobs, but one of the passengers spoke to her and made her calm down again. It's the children who were delighted by the incident. It was for them only a great subject of recreation. But as for myself, I was very nervous and I was frightened. Nobody on board had a camera. Usually, I always had one with me, but this time I had forgotten it, and I was very disappointed by that."
After one hour of fantastic operations, the object was suddenly lost of sight when he went away with an enormous acceleration. Immediately the radio functioned again and lighting in the plane became normal again.
Sanvitti renewed contact with the control tower tower of Jorge Chavez airport in Lima and was precisely reporting back what had happened when the machine suddenly reappeared, as if it came out of nothing, and this time it was accompanied by a second UFO.
The two UFOs flew a few moments around the plane and disappeared for good finally, in again an enormous acceleration.
Sanvitti told:
"I discovered that, again, the radio functioned perfectly and that lighting on board of plane was becomong normal again. I finally managed to contact the control tower, and I was just telling to the operators that we had seen an UFO, when I saw the apparatus suddenly come back. A second UFO was beside it. The two apparatuses flew over our plane. They had both the same size and the same shape. I started to tell to the control tower that there were two UFOs around us, when suddenly both dashed away, at a fantastic speed and disappeared. It was our last vision of them."
When they left, again, the radio and lighting recovered to function normally and Sanvitti contacted the tower again. At the airport, Edwin Boris told,
"I could hear his [Sanvitti's] voice explaining what had happened. He was saying, 'A UFO has flown around us, observing us. The passengers are frightened.'"
When, a few minutes later, the plane landed on Lima's airport, all the passengers were interviewed. They were shaken, frightened, and agreed on the details of what they had seen and on the fact that it was something utterly strange and terrifying which they could not understand.
Much of them which had made fun before about UFO stories had now completely changed attitude. One of them, Jorge Santa Maria Calderon, senior of the School of Engineers at the University of Piura, stated:
"I had never believed for a second in the UFOs until this had happened, but I saw this one with my own eyes and I observed it during more than one hour. In the capacity of engineer, I have to say that this object was something with a speed, a size, a shape and a propulsion system which are not known anywhere in the world. On this plane, all the people saw the same thing."
He insisted:
"It seemed quite simply to be toying with us. It was conical and projected intermittent lights. When it flew us parallel to us, It emitted white lights. When it went up or went down, its colors turned to blue, red, orange. It was for me a total shock. The object was completely alien to all that I knew. Its profile, its handiness and its speed were almost incredible. What we saw, the others and me, did not have any relationship with nothing known in the entire world. It was a UFO, and this UFO, I could neither explain it, nor understand it! It was something really disconcerting, and I do not think that anyone can explain it."
Elmer Nunez added:
"I had always heard speak about UFOs, but until this event I had not granted any credit to this. Now I am convinced. I know that we were followed by a UFO and, believe me, all that terrified me."
Captain Sanvitti thinks that if the two machines, after having returned together, moved away again as far as the eye can see, it is because they intercepted his radio message towards the control tower. He explained:
"It seemed to to me that they had realized that I was sending a message to the control tower and, again, they disappeared instantaneously. I think that if the radio were not cut the second time, it is because I had already alerted the tower."
Although Nunez thought that nobody had camera, several passengers had cameras indeed and took images of them. But after landing, the crew and the passengers were questioned by the military authorities, and the films were confiscated. Only one passenger who wanted to remain anonymous preserved his film, on which he had taken only one photography of the machine:
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