massive size became clear, and I estimated it to be up to a mile long.
On my subsequent return to Alderney from Southampton, I telephoned Jersey ATC and spoke to Paul Kelly, the duty controller who was in communication with me during the sighting. He informed me that a pilot from a second aircraft had described a sighting as “matching the description” of what I had seen. This was a great relief to me, as it confirmed that I alone was not bonkers!
Indeed, Captain Patrick Patterson, the pilot of a Blue Islands Jetstream aircraft inbound to Jersey from the Isle of Man, had witnessed the same thing as me, from twenty miles south above the tiny island of Sark. Some months later, I met with Captain Patterson and we exchanged views as to what we had seen. Although his sighting was only for one minute or so, his description was proof to me that we had seen the same thing, even though he saw only a single object, the second being in his six-o’clock position and therefore out of view.
The decluttered radar trace recorded at the time clearly shows two slow-moving objects appearing simultaneously and disappearing off the trace simultaneously. The traces begin and end at exactly the same time, not a minute apart or even ten seconds. The northernmost of the two objects ends up in its final moments transiting overhead of the Casquettes lighthouse. The radar also shows the Blue Island aircraft top left to bottom right and my aircraft top right to centre.
A lengthy report by a team of independent researchers (with which I partly disagree on some content) overall offers no evidence to explain the sighting, which confirms to me that two tangible objects did appear over the Channel Islands that day. This study goes into extraordinary detail and runs over 175 pages, with references to the weather, temperature inversions, military activity, surface shipping movements, and many other avenues of investigation.[44] I do, however, have a significant point at which I have to disagree with the team, which is their dismissal of the radar traces as being returns probably from a cargo boat.
Why would the two traces start and stop in midocean, at exactly the same moment, when they should be seen leaving or returning to port? And the northern object ends up in its final moments transiting over the Casquettes lighthouse, the scene of many shipwrecks including the SS
Regardless of the controversy, and even though many sightings by pilots do not have multiple witnesses or radar tracking, I would still urge all aircrew to report whatever they see as soon as possible, and to stand up and be counted.
Air law stipulates quite clearly that if an operating crew of an aircraft sees another aircraft in a place that it should not be, then at the earliest opportunity the whole scenario is to be reported to the relevant authority. In my case the British Civil Aviation Authority knew within twenty minutes of the sighting what was seen, as described in the flight log faxed directly to the relevant CAA office. The military was informed by Jersey air traffic control at the same time. This is not an option; it is an obligation that crews react in this manner.
Ever since I saw the two UFOs and reported them openly, I have been asked the one question that everyone wants answered on this subject: “So what did you see, then? What do you think it was?” In truth I still don’t have an answer that satisfies me.
There are a number of what-if’s to be considered. For example, what if it had been nighttime? Or if there had been no cloud layer between the ground and the massive objects? Their sheer brilliance would surely have been seen from hundreds of miles away by people on the ground and all overflying pilots. The surface of the sea and land would have been lit up as if by two mini-suns.
Also, four days later, there was an earthquake off the Kent coast some 200 miles away. Could they have been earthquake lights, a rare phenomenon coincident with earth tremors? Unlikely. These are not seen over water, since they are discharged directly from a fault line. And could one of them manifest as a stationary, brilliant, sharply defined object, with an exact duplicate some distance away? Highly doubtful.
Or, was the brilliance of the objects just an aside, since perhaps they were part of some secret experiment? I would be interested to know if an overflying military or government satellite had picked up this extraordinary power source or brilliant light, which would seem likely. In any case, the Ministry of Defence stated in writing that this was not a military exercise or anything belonging to them.
My conclusion for all that ask the question is simple: I believe that there were two solid craft working in unison that day, shown by the fact that their sortie was linked together in both time and space. What they were, I cannot answer. What they were doing, once again I cannot answer. What I will say is that for machines so huge that they are visible from 50-plus miles hence, from two independent sources and with radar evidence to support their provenance, I can only conclude that they were not from around here, and in that I mean they were not, can not, have been manufactured on Earth.
So, what’s next? Well, this case, like so many others, was closed before it even started, as far as the authorities are concerned. The British and French military showed their now customary “Not too worried, really” colors, since their respective airspaces were not under direct threat. I interpret this to mean “We see it, but there’s not a thing we can do to stop it or make it go away.”
I believe that what we witnessed that day, along with what many other pilots witness around the world on a regular basis,
But what if the people of the world were informed of this? It could result in recrimination against government, religion, and authority, possibly large-scale civil unrest culminating in a new world order which might or might not be beneficial to the planet, or a myriad of other complicated and unpredictable scenarios. The authorities may do well to consider keeping the lid on Pandora’s box at this time.
On the other hand, I believe the time is coming when they will no longer be able to keep sweeping this issue under the mat. With improved technology available and with more sightings being faithfully recorded every day, the time is surely not far away. Soon they will have to confront the people with what is known. Depending on what they know, or what we might be able to learn once they do this, I suspect this might turn out to be the time when the human race will grow up. Forced to confront their own smallness in relation to Earth’s place in the universe, humans may at last face up to a future as a tiny fish in a big sea.
This whole episode has exposed a new world to me that I didn’t know existed. I’ve come to know a very unusual group of people who are fascinated with the subject of UFOs—an eclectic bunch of dedicated believers and dreamers, writers, skeptics, filmmakers, witnesses, psychotherapists, former military officials, and all hues in between. Some of the people that I have met firmly believe in extraterrestrial intelligence; others insist on refuting any idea of a greater intelligence than the human mind. Either way, the beliefs are firmly held and vocally expressed in all forms of media. And a complete industry has emerged to service the hunger for knowledge surrounding this subject.
As for myself, life has returned pretty much to normal. I still give the occasional newspaper, TV, or radio interview, but here at home in Guernsey, the incident is mainly forgotten. People have other things on their minds now, and concern about something otherworldly when the mortgage payment is due falls firmly into second or third place. Regardless, the day may be coming when the whole human race will have to face the frightening reality that we are coexistent with others in this universe. In my view, we may be well advised to get along with this now, because, frankly, we have very little choice.
CHAPTER 8
UFOs as Air Force Targets
Commercial passenger jets operate quite independently from military aircraft, and obviously, as described by Richard Haines, have limited options when it comes to responding to a nearby UFO. Also, at least in America, the stigma against reporting such events is high among civilian pilots, who face the possibility that, if reported, the
