Английская Википедия:2007 Alderney UFO sighting

Материал из Онлайн справочника
Перейти к навигацииПерейти к поиску

Шаблон:Short description Шаблон:Use dmy dates Шаблон:Use British English Шаблон:Infobox event

In the afternoon of 23 April 2007, Ray Bowyer, a pilot flying south towards the island of Alderney in the English Channel sighted unidentified flying objects. He reported the sighting to an air traffic controller who told him that a second pilot had seen something similar. In Bowyer's report to the British Civil Aviation Authority he said he saw two bright, stationary objects. Two passengers on Bowyer's aircraft said that they saw unusual coloured lights at the same time. Proposed explanations for the sighting have included earthquake lights and sun dogs.

Accounts of the sighting

Bowyer's accounts

On 23 April 2007,Шаблон:Sfn Ray Bowyer, a fifty-year-old pilot with eighteen years flying experience reported seeing "a cigar-shaped brilliant white light" in the sky.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn He first thought that it was reflected light from greenhouses on the nearby island of Guernsey.Шаблон:Sfn Then he decided it was a stationary object, approximately the size of a Boeing 737, at an altitude of around Шаблон:Convert and at a distance of Шаблон:Convert. He later concluded that its distance was closer to Шаблон:Convert and its size was "as much as a mile wide".Шаблон:Sfn In 2021, Bowyer said it was "the size of five or six battleships", and that it had been "a very sharply defined, solid, bright yellow-gold object with a couple of black bands on the side that were kind of shimmering".Шаблон:Sfn For a 2007 BBC article two months after the incident, Boyer said was "like a CD on its edge".Шаблон:Sfn

Photograph of a passenger aeroplane
A Trislander in the livery of Aurigny Airlines, similar to that flown by Bowyer

In 2013, the British academic and folklorist David Clarke published a partial transcript of the recorded conversation between Bowyer and an air traffic controller on the island of Jersey. In the transcript, the air traffic controller said that he did not pick up any radar contacts ahead of Bowyer's aircraft, only seeing "a very faint primary contact", which he considered to be meteorological in origin.Шаблон:Sfn

Bowyer said that he approached the light and looked at it through his binoculars. He later said that he had been "able to look at this fantastic light without discomfort".Шаблон:Sfn He also said he saw a second object moving in formation with the first set of lights, later stating it was "exactly the same … [but] further away", being closer to the island of Guernsey. He said the UFO was "clearly visual" for approximately nine minutes.Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn

After landing in Alderney, Bowyer made an official report to the Civil Aviation Authority, labelling the incident as a "near-miss".Шаблон:Sfn Bowyer then flew the return leg of his flight to Southampton, but did not see the objects again.Шаблон:Sfn By 25 April 2007, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) had stated that it would not investigate the reported sighting.Шаблон:Sfn Approximately a week after the reported sighting, the MoD stated the incident had taken place in French airspace and so was outside its responsibility.Шаблон:Sfn Two weeks after that, the MoD released information connected with the report, including a statement from a second pilot.Шаблон:Sfn The report of the sighting published by the MoD reads in its entirety:

Шаблон:Blockquote

Later, in Pilot magazine, Bowyer added a sketch of what he had seen to this report, in which he described the objects as approximately the size of a "reasonably large town."Шаблон:Sfn Bowyer reported to the BBC that he was "pretty shook-up" by what he saw, describing the incident as "pretty scary".Шаблон:Sfn The Times regarded Bowyer's report as "one of the most impressive and perplexing testimonies to have found its way into MoD archives".Шаблон:Sfn In 2008, the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported on the incident in connection with what it called a "huge rise" in reported UFO sightings in the United Kingdom.Шаблон:Sfn

Other witness accounts

According to Bowyer, several passengers on his aircraft had noticed the light,Шаблон:SfnШаблон:Sfn one of whom described it as "sunlight-coloured".Шаблон:Sfn Two passengers reported seeing the light to the Evening Standard, one of them describing it as "an orange light … like an elongated oval".Шаблон:Sfn Patrick Patterson, a pilot from the Channel Islands' airline Blue Islands reported that he saw a similarly described object in the same approximate position.Шаблон:Sfn It was later reported that this pilot saw "an object behind him to his left" at 1950 feet.Шаблон:Sfn One interpretation of this event was that this was an atmospheric phenomenon.Шаблон:Sfn

Proposed explanations

Photograph showing the sun, central, and two tall, bright lights equidistant from it to the left and right.
Sun dogs photographed in North Dakota in 2009

Bowyer rejected the suggestion that he had claimed to see an alien vessel, only remarking that he had "never seen anything like it before in all [his] years of flying."Шаблон:Sfn When interviewed by the BBC, he accepted the possibility that he had seen earthquake lights,Шаблон:Sfn a scientifically-debated phenomenon where flashes of light appear over areas of seismic activity,Шаблон:Sfn connected to the earthquake in south-eastern England that took place on 28 April.Шаблон:Sfn

A local astronomer, Michael Maunder, attributed Bowyer's report to sun dogs, an optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of light through ice crystals in the atmosphere. He described the weather during the flight as "just right for setting up sundogs and similar phenomena".Шаблон:Sfn Sundogs appear at 22 degrees relative to the direction of the sun from the observer,Шаблон:Sfn and Maunder noted that at the time of Bowyer's sighting, the lights he reported seeing would have been approximately 22 degrees from the sun.Шаблон:Sfn

References

Шаблон:Reflist

Bibliography

Шаблон:Refbegin

Шаблон:Refend

Further reading

Шаблон:Wikinews

Шаблон:UFOs Шаблон:Aviation accidents and incidents in 2007 Шаблон:Aviation accidents and incidents in the United Kingdom

Шаблон:Coord

Партнерские ресурсы
Криптовалюты
Магазины
Хостинг
Разное

Источник — http://wikihandbk.com/ruwiki/index.php?title=Английская_Википедия:2007_Alderney_UFO_sighting&oldid=12686335