This article was published in the daily newspaper Fort Frances Times, Ontario, Canada, on August 27, 2004.
DRYDEN, Ont. (CP)
It's a bird. It's a plane. It's a UFO?
The manager of the Dryden Regional Airport wants to get to the bottom of reports of unidentified flying objects in the area.
George Friesen said yesterday that he has requested a checklist from NAV Canada on the subject and "has a few phone calls to reply to" following a report of a UFO sighting in the Dryden area July 12.
NAV Canada provides air navigation services used by airports, airlines, and aircraft operators across Canada.
The Dryden-area UFO sighting is posted on www.hbccufo.com—a website that reportedly represents the Canadian UFO research community.
The posting said at least three Dryden-area people witnessed "low altitude bright lights tracking across the sky."
One person reported seeing the lights on three-consecutive nights, as well as a V-shaped metallic craft during the day "moving through the sky, very slowly."
Area police services said they received no calls of suspected UFOs in July.
Friesen said his interest is both personal and professional.
"If something occurs near an airport, professionally we are obliged to report it," he said.
While working in Lynn Lake, Man. in the early '90s, Friesen said he dealt with quite a few inquires about "strange objects in the sky"—largely because the airport was releasing huge atmospheric weather balloons at the time.
The last unexplained phenomena observed in the northwest was a "strange light" seen in the Thunder Bay area in March, 2003.
At the time, officials with a U.S.-based research centre suggested the light may have been space junk.
