Audio: Close encounter with UFO off Irish coast leaves pilots ‘wondering’

Comhrá

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/audio-close-encounter-with-ufo-off-irish-coast-leaves-pilots-wondering-884774.html

The Irish Aviation Authority has begun an investigation into the sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) by a number of aircraft off the south-west coast of Ireland last Friday.

At approximately 6.47am on November 9, the pilot of a British Airways flight, call sign Speedbird94, contacted Shannon Air Traffic Control (ATC) to ask if there were military exercises taking place in the airspace through which her Boeing 787 was passing.

There were no military exercises underway.

Shannon ATC replied: “There is nothing showing on either primary or secondary [radar].”



The pilot responded: “OK. It was moving so fast.”

The controller then asked: “Alongside you?”

The BA pilot, flying from Montreal to Heathrow, describes how the UFO came up along the left-hand side of the aircraft, “then rapidly veered to the north”.

She said it was “a very bright light” that “disappeared at very high speed”.

She said they were “wondering” what it could be, that it did not seem to be on a collision course.





26:15

Scroll to 27m to hear interaction

The pilot of a Virgin Airlines Boeing 747, call sign Virgin76, then joined the conversation and made reference to a meteor or another object re-entering the earth’s atmosphere and said there were “multiple objects following the same sort of trajectory”.

He said they were very bright “where we were”.

Shannon ATC than asked if the pilots knew which direction the objects were heading. The Virgin Airlines pilot said it was in his “11 o’clock position” with “two bright lights over to the right”, that then climbed away at speed. Shannon ATC told the pilot it would pass that information on. Shannon ATC then told Speedbird94 that “other aircraft in the air have also reported the same thing so we are going to have a look and see”.

Another pilot said the speed of the UFO was “astronomical, it was like Mach 2”, or twice the speed of sound.

The Virgin Airlines flight, from Orlando to Manchester, can carry 455 passengers, while the 787 has 214 seats. A third aircraft, a Norwegian Air 737 travelling from Stewart, New York, to Shannon, which can carry 200 passengers, was also party to the conversation.

The BA flight was passing over Kerry at the time, while the other two flights were off the south-west coast, heading eastbound, and in high-level airspace, which extends from 24,500ft upwards.

The Irish Examiner contacted the Irish Aviation Authority to ask if it was investigating the UFO.

In a statement, the authority said: “Following reports from a small number of aircraft on Friday, November 9, of unusual air activity, the IAA has filed a report.

“This report will be investigated under the normal confidential occurrence investigation process.”

Nijmegen

The pilot of a Virgin Airlines Boeing 747, call sign Virgin76, then joined the conversation and made reference to a meteor or another object re-entering the earth’s atmosphere and said there were “multiple objects following the same sort of trajectory”.

Occam's razor.

_Whimsical_

Nijmegen wrote: »

Occam's razor.

But...

Shannon ATC than asked if the pilots knew which direction the objects were heading. The Virgin Airlines pilot said it was in his “11 o’clock position” with “two bright lights over to the right”, that then climbed away at speed.

Not too many climbing meteors out there. You'd think the average pilot would know the difference, and it seems several average pilots noted this as unusual and didn't identify what it was.

Tenger

Taurid meteor shower was expected on Nov 8-10th.

_Whimsical_

Tenger wrote: »

Taurid meteor shower was expected on Nov 8-10th.

Would you see them "climbing" in the sky though, or veering off in an unexpected direction? I assumed they just fell?

bangkok

Tenger wrote: »

Taurid meteor shower was expected on Nov 8-10th.

Meteor would fall to the ground, not rise up

DOCARCH

Ball lightning?

Tenger

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

Would you see them "climbing" in the sky though, or veering off in an unexpected direction? I assumed they just fell?

Indeed. However if you are heading east-west and the shower is in a different direction you could be mistaken, especially at night in the a darkened cockpit. 0627 would still be dark.

bangkok

Tenger wrote: »

Indeed. However if you are heading east-west and the shower is in a different direction you could be mistaken, especially at night in the a darkened cockpit. 0627 would still be dark.

i doubt it... the pilot said this...


"describes how the UFO came up along the left-hand side of the aircraft, “then rapidly veered to the north”.

emo72

Tenger wrote: »

Indeed. However if you are heading east-west and the shower is in a different direction you could be mistaken, especially at night in the a darkened cockpit. 0627 would still be dark.

No one ever has a mobile phone when this happens?

Mc Love

emo72 wrote: »

No one ever has a mobile phone when this happens?

It surprisingly how fast it actually happens. You look trying to determine what you are looking at, and then they just speed off, leaving you no time to get your phone out to film it.

emo72

Mc Love wrote: »

It surprisingly how fast it actually happens. You look trying to determine what you are looking at, and then they just speed off, leaving you no time to get your phone out to film it.

So it would seem. I'm surprised that modern aircraft don't have some camera system like a wide angle go pro built in. All the money spent on technology in planes and we can't have a little camera? Seems reasonable lads.

Nijmegen

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

But...



Not too many climbing meteors out there. You'd think the average pilot would know the difference, and it seems several average pilots noted this as unusual and didn't identify what it was.

Disorientation and confusion around visual identification of the movement of other objects in the air is a common occurrence. I would suggest that if you want to believe it’s aliens that’s fine and well, could well be, but I think the aul razor suggests something coming down through the atmosphere; which would still be hundreds of thousands of feet above them.

Tenger

emo72 wrote: »

So it would seem. I'm surprised that modern aircraft don't have some camera system like a wide angle go pro built in. All the money spent on technology in planes and we can't have a little camera? Seems reasonable lads.

A system that is redundant 99% of the time that adds additional power demands and or technical support requirements.

L1011

emo72 wrote: »

So it would seem. I'm surprised that modern aircraft don't have some camera system like a wide angle go pro built in. All the money spent on technology in planes and we can't have a little camera? Seems reasonable lads.

The VS 747 is far from a modern aircraft!

emo72

L1011 wrote: »

The VS 747 is far from a modern aircraft!

Ah yeah, Im saying going forward from now. Tiny little go pro type things. Yes 99% of the time they are recording nothing. But it's that 1% when something goes wrong or is unexplained that it earns it's keep. I mean if someone has radar invisible planes acting the maggot in our airspace I want to know about it. I think pilots know the difference between meteorites and craft.

cml387

Not doubting the crew's interpretation of what they saw, but since it was the time that the Taurid shower is around peak, then that is the likely explanation.

Bearing in mind that Russian bears are now wandering around Shanwick airspace, the crew was absolutely correct in asking Shannon about any unknown activity.

The Rape of Lucretia

They are just the probes left behind by the Oumuamua craft, and are making a more detailed survey of the solar system.

elfy4eva

God damn commercial jets really need Dashcams

faoiarvok

Could totally see how something hitting the atmosphere way off but very bright could look like something close, in the dark at high levels with little other reference points for perspective.

On changes of direction, I assume meteorites’ paths are affected by different densities of atmosphere? Seen from the right [or wrong?] perspective, I could see how a change in the rate of descent of the object could appear to be a change from level flight to climb, or from straight flight to “veering” off.

KevinCavan

Hopefully they’ll take over instead of Fine Gael!;-)

_Whimsical_

Nijmegen wrote: »

Disorientation and confusion around visual identification of the movement of other objects in the air is a common occurrence. I would suggest that if you want to believe it’s aliens that’s fine and well, could well be, but I think the aul razor suggests something coming down through the atmosphere; which would still be hundreds of thousands of feet above them.

I wouldn't want to believe its aliens at all, quite the opposite, I would be very interested in discussion of any plausible explanation, I expect that there is a perfectly logical reason that won't bend my view of the universe. My only experience of viewing meteors is from the ground and on video. My understanding is they follow a distinct trajectory. Id be surprised several pilots would confuse them for an unidentified phenomenon, but I'm interested to read here they might appear differently from the air.
Is an interesting conversation point rather than one to shoot down immediately I think.

Kalyke

The video could not be of the same event as the the pilots reported seeing it 6.47am. It would have been dark at that time!

DOCARCH

DOCARCH wrote: »

Ball lightning?

As I suggested earlier....could be ball lightning?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ball_lightning

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2009AGUFMAE21A0308D

That, or some other weather related phenomenon, is the most likely explanation.

There was thunderstorm activity in the general area (off the SW coast) at the time of the report.

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I wouldn't want to believe its aliens at all, quite the opposite, I would be very interested in discussion of any plausible explanation, I expect that there is a perfectly logical reason that won't bend my view of the universe. My only experience of viewing meteors is from the ground and on video. My understanding is they follow a distinct trajectory. Id be surprised several pilots would confuse them for an unidentified phenomenon, but I'm interested to read here they might appear differently from the air.
Is an interesting conversation point rather than one to shoot down immediately I think.

The curious thing about the x3 plane reports is the lack of mention of burn-up that would be typical with meteroites.

When hitting the atmosphere, depending on their chemical make-up (iron, sodium or magnesium) there would a slight rainbow of colours at different atmospheric pressures, speed or burn stages.

All three pilots audio seem to indicate it was more of a static (dual, and uniform movement) light signature, otherwise they would likely have mentioned otherwise.

Ball lighting generally appears slow moving, even static. There was reference to 'two' light sources and sugested ascending movement, at M2.0.

DOCARCH

Marina High Scrooge wrote: »

Ball lighting generally appears slow moving, even static. There was reference to 'two' light sources and sugested ascending movement, at M2.0.

If ascending (at speed), could also be sprites?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)

DOCARCH wrote: »

If ascending (at speed), could also be sprites?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)

Unless it's a new type, combined with irregular (twin) ball lighting.

Sprites only last a millisecond, usually within an intense storm and way up in the very upper atmosphere, shooting out charge into space itself.

Often tree or irregular shaped, and as part of a sequence during a large storm. Imagine radar might pick that up too.

faoiarvok

Marina High Scrooge wrote: »

The curious thing about the x3 plane reports is the lack of mention of burn-up that would be typical with meteroites.

When hitting the atmosphere, depending on their chemical make-up (iron, sodium or magnesium) there would a slight rainbow of colours at different atmospheric pressures, speed or burn stages.

All three pilots audio seem to indicate it was more of a static (dual, and uniform movement) light signature, otherwise they would likely have mentioned otherwise.

While not mentioning burn-up specifically, one pilot did think it was a meteor “or other object” re-entering the atmosphere.

CoisFharraige

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kIprgAaWbo&feature=youtu.be

DOCARCH

faoiarvok wrote: »

While not mentioning burn-up specifically, one pilot did think it was a meteor “or other object” re-entering the atmosphere.

Space junk?