This article was published in the daily newspaper The Register, London, U-K., on April 27, 2007.
See also Guernesey Press, Jersey Evening Post.
'Mile wide' mystery object hovers off Channel Islands
By Lester Haines
Two experienced airline pilots at the controls of separate flights have reported seeing a mystery object "up to a mile wide" hovering off the coast of Alderney on Monday, This is Guernesey reports.
Captain Ray Bowyer, 50, of local airline Aurigny, spotted a "bright-yellow light" 10 miles west of Alderney at about 3pm during a flight from Southampton while his aircraft was 30 miles from the island at 4,000ft.
He recounted: "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."
Continuing his approach to Guernsey, Bowyer spied a "second identical object further to the west". He said: "It was exactly the same but looked smaller because it was further away. It was closer to Guernsey. I can't explain it. At first, I thought it might have been a reflection from a vinery in Guernsey, but that would have disappeared quickly. This was clearly visual for about nine minutes.
"As I got closer to it, it became clear to me that it was tangible. I was in two minds about going towards it to have a closer look but decided against it because of the size of it. I had to think of the safety of the passengers first. I'm certainly not saying that it was something of another world. All I'm saying is that I have never seen anything like it before in all my years of flying."
Bowyer described his sightings to ATC. Paul Kelly, 31, the duty air traffic controller at the time, said "nothing had appeared on his radar", but that he'd received a "similar report" from a Blue Islands pilot en route to Jersey at the same time. Kelly explained that as the pilot went past Sark he "described an object behind him to his left".
He continued: "The description was very similar to Captain Bowyer's and they described it as being in exactly the same place. But they were looking at it from opposite sides."
The Blue Islands pilot explained the UFO was 1,550 feet lower than his aircraft, which was at 3,500ft, so "both pilots placed it at the same altitude", Kelly added.
Regarding the radar blank, Kelly noted: "If the object was stationary, our equipment would not have picked it up because the radar would have screened it out."
