UFOs in the daily Press:

Pilots spot mile-wide UFO close to Alderney

Air traffic control receives two independant reports

By Harry McRandle

BRITAIN'S X-File detectives are to investigate the sighting of a one-mile-wide UFO near Alderney earlier this week.

The UK Ministry of Defence's equivalent of FBI special agents Mulder and Scully will investigate the UFO reports made by two commercial pilots flying separateplanes on Monday afternoon.

Radar equipment in Jersey did not detect the object, although the duty airtraffic controller at Jersey airport, Paul Kelly, confirmed that he receivedsimultaneous reports from the pilots of Aurigny and Blue Island aircraft.

Aurigny pilot Captain Ray Bowyer claims to have seen the strange object during a flight from Southampton.

He spotted 'a bright yellow light ten miles west of Alderney' when his plane was about 30 miles from Alderney and flying at 4,000 ft.

The 50-year-old said: 'It was a very sharp, thin yellow object with a green area. It was 2,000 feet up and stationary,' said the [sic]

'I though it was about ten miles away, although I later realized it was about 40 miles from us. At first I thought it was the size of a Boeing 737' he said.

But he said it must have been much bigger because of the distance and estimated it could have been a mile wide.

Capt. Bowyer said he also saw a second identical object further to the west.

'It was exactly the same but looked smaller because it was further away. I am certainly not saying that it was something of another world. All I am saying is that I have never seen anything like it before in all my years of flying.'

Mr Kelly said that the Blue Island pilot made a similar report to that of Capt Bowyer.

The pilot was flying to Jersey and, as he went past Sark, described an object behind him to his left. The description was very similar to the Aurigny captain's and both described it as being exactly in the same place. But they were looking at it from opposite sides. Mr Kelly said the pilot confirmed that the object had been 1,500 feet beneath his plane.

The Blue Islands plane was at 3,500 feet at the time so, again both pilots placed it at the same altitude. Mr Kelly continued: 'If the object was stationary our equipment would not have picked it up because the radar would have screened it out.'