Welcome to UK Pilots Reporting UAP

The Trusted Source for UK Pilot UAP Sightings

We provide accurate and reliable information on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) sightings reported by UK pilots. Our mission is to analyse and share credible data to increase public awareness and understanding of these aerial occurrences.

UAP encounters present clear air safety implications for pilots whether military or civil and coordinated lines of reporting are necessary to ensure best practice and transparency.

Data Analysis

Provide in-depth UK pilots case investigations.

Research Team

Aviation & UAP researchers utilize their expertise and knowledge to analyze the reports to ensure the highest standards of accuracy and reliability.

Collaboration and Partnerships

We actively seek to collaborate with pilots, aviation organizations, and government agencies to collect and analyze UAP data, fostering a global network of dedicated professionals in the field.

About Us

Who We Are

At UK Pilots Reporting UAP, we are a team of researchers dedicated to studying and documenting UAP sightings reported by British pilots. 

In addition to pilots, we also encourage other aircrew and aviation employees (including radar operators and ATC) to come forward secure in the knowledge that their identities and careers can be protected if they request to become a 'Confidential Source'. 

We collaborate with pilots, aviation organizations, and government agencies to gather, investigate and analyse data, ensuring the highest level of accuracy and credibility.

As with current developments in the United States we firmly believe that there are clear air safety implications for UK pilots who experience UAP related encounters and that there should be coordinated lines of reporting (military and civil) and transparency regarding these events.

We understand the implications of the decades long era of stigma surrounding the subject but believe it is receding as it is now the subject of intense interest by scientists who are finally able to get involved in UAP data driven research.

UK Pilots Reporting UAP is a non-profit website. The team are passionate about the need for information collection and transparency on the issue, which will be dealt with in a professional and confidential manner.

Our team

Our team consists of highly experienced UFO/UAP researchers with many years of experience who will conduct comprehensive research and investigation into pilot reports.

Gary Heseltine

Author, magazine editor and researcher and international lecturer 

Gary is a former RAF Police and British Transport Police officer. He was a detective for 19 years and a former advanced interviewer of suspects and witnesses.

In 2002 he launched an unofficial national police database for British police officers to report and collate their UFO/UAP reports.

In April 2013 following his retirement from the police he launched UFO Truth Magazine (bi-monthly ezine).

In 2021 he was one of the co-founders of ICER, the International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research. He currently holds the position of Vice President.

ICER is an international NGO comprising scientists, academics and leading UFO/UAP researchers with national representatives in the 30 countries.

In February 2023, he published his first book 'NON-HUMAN The Rendlesham Forest UFO Incidents: 42 years of Denial' following a five-year re-investigation of Britain's most famous UFO case - The Rendlesham Forest Incident (Only on Amazon)

In December 2023 he founded UK Pilots Reporting UAP which went 'live' on 12/02/2024.

Let our work begin.

Email: garyheseltine@ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk

Press Contact: 07970 364368

Dave Hodrien

Researcher, group chairman, author and lecturer 

Dave has been an active UFO/UAP researcher since 2008. 

He is both the Chairman and Lead Investigator for Birmingham UFO Group, one of the United Kingdom’s most active groups looking into the subject.

He regularly investigates and writes detailed case reports on incidents from around the globe, and provides confidential support for experiencers. Some of these investigations have involved military and aviation personnel.

Since 2013 he has regularly written articles for UFO Truth Magazine, and he has previously written articles for other publications including UFO Matrix and Paranormal. He has appeared on numerous television documentaries and speaks regularly at conferences.

In 2021 he became the United Kingdom Deputy National Representative for the International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research (ICER).

Email: birminghamufogroup@gmail.com

Alan Foster 

Writer, researcher and  international lecturer 

Alan is a writer, researcher, and international lecturer on the implications of Open Disclosure regarding the existence of Extraterrestrial Life. 

His career includes 19 years in the Airline Industry, managing airline travel operations providing commercial transport for the U.S. Military in the UK, and the U.S. Naval Fleet in the Mediterranean, and working in Airline operations at International Airports, including British Airways Station Controller and Aircraft Turnaround Manager. 

Alan regularly writes articles and gives Talks to Community Groups, Professional Organisations, Universities, and International Conferences, to raise awareness of the UAP subject.

Email: alanfostersky@googlemail.com

Chris Gaffney

Holds a Private Pilot's Licence Aviation and UAP researcher 

As a teenager in the mid 1970s I joined BUFORA and a short time later became an investigator for Ireland (South). This branch later evolved into the Irish UFO Research Centre.

Growing up near Dublin airport I developed a keen interest in aviation.

In 2011 I obtained my Private Pilot’s Licence and to date have amassed several hundred hours flying experience.

In 2020 I created NHIdisclosure with a view to establishing dialogue with governments and institutions in my home country Ireland and the EU on the developing UAP reality. 

In March 2021 I became the Deputy National Representative for ICER (International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research) Ireland. 

In 2022 I created 'Project Morrigan' proposals to the Irish Oireachtas and EU Parliament for the creation of Academic/Scientific bodies for the study of the modus operandi of UAP as a possible solution to the Global Climate/Energy Crisis. 

On Nov 17 2022, the Joint Oireachtac Committee for Public Petitions accepted 'Project Morrigan' which is currently being considered by the EU Parliament Petitions Committee.

Email: chrisg@nhidisclosure.com

UK pilots reporting UAP in British airspace

1952 - THE LITTLE RISSINGTON INCIDENT 

Case summary:

On 21 October 1952, Flight Lieutenant Mike Swiney flying a Gloster Meteor Mk 7 fighter aircraft was on a training flightwith student David Crofts, a Navy Lieutenant as his backseat passenger when at 13,000-14,000 feet they passed through some clouds to see three white circular object literally ‘framed’ in their cockpit window.

Swiney’s immediate reaction were that they were parachutes canopies but soon realised that they were circular in shape     and they all appeared to be ‘stationary’ in the sky.

The objects quickly began to climb so Swiney pursued them as they soon reached 30,000 feet. As the aircraft climbed noted that the objects were more ‘plate-like’. (1)

Then the objects changed course and moved from his port side to his starboard side. Initially it was Swiney that saw the objects before he alerted Croft, sat beside him, to see if he could see them. Crofts quickly confirmed he too could see the three objects. A short time later they had sped away and out of view.

Swiney was initially keen to pursue them but after talking with Crofts they decided not continue because there were accounts of US pilots having done so and some had proved fatal.

Neither one was able to gauge their size.

Swiney duly reported the incident to air traffic control and he was told to return to RAF Little Rissington.

After landing Crofts was told to go to his room and not go to tea and food would be brought to him. He was also told not to talk to anyone about what had happened. Finally, he was told to report to the Wing Commander’s office at 0900 hours the next day. Swiney recalled that as soon as they landed they were immediately separated from each other. The next morning both men were interviewed separately about the incident.

Crofts stated that an unnamed person in plain clothes told him that the three objects had been confirmed on radar travelling at 600 mph. He was asked to draw the objects which he did. Later he drew three saucers in his flight logbook against the date of the incident. Swiney too marked his logbook with the word ‘Saucers’.

No official RAF documents have been found to date corroborate their accounts however there is no suspicion that they are lying about the incident.

The only things that confirm that the incident occurred are respective flying logbooks and the entries they made on them. In addition, the RAF Little Rissington Operational Record Book states,

21.10.52 “Flight Lt M J E, Instructor and Lt D Crofts RN, student, sighted three mysterious saucer shaped objects travelling at high speed at about 35.000 feet whilst on a high-level navigation exercise in Meteor V11. Later ATCC Gloucester reported radar plots to confirm this, but the Air Ministry discounted any possibility of ‘extraterrestrial’ objects.”

Swiney would later rise to the senior rank of Air Commodore and when he was able to, he asked to see the report into his sighting. When he did so he was surprised when he was shown the file, despite the fact that he had been told that the records of his incident had been routinely destroyed after being held for five years. The report he was shown has never been released. This suggests that more documents on the case do exist but are being withheld from public release.

Crofts later claimed that RAF Sopley had seen the objects on radar and had tracked them travelling at 3,000 miles an hour. 

The object was also tracked on radar at RAF Rudloe Manor before disappearing off their tube at an estimated speed of 1,000 mph in a matter of seconds. This corresponds to Swiney’s recollection that he had looked away for a few seconds and when he looked back the objects had disappeared. (3)

Intelligence behaviour:

The three objects moved away from the Meteor as soon as they were detected indicating intelligent group evasion of the pursuing aircraft. 

References: 

  1. What do they really Know by M. S. Morgan on Amazon books (2020) Pages 8-11. 
  2. Both men later appeared in a TV documentary and recounted their encounter.
  3. Out of the Shadows published by Authorhouse (2002) Pages 98-102.

 

1954 - THE FLT LT SALANDIN PILOT ENCOUNTER

Case summary:

At 1615 hours on 14 October 1954, Flight Lt. James. R. Salandin took off from RAF North Weald, home of the 604th Squadron, flying a twin jet Meteor fighter and had begun climbing southwards into a clear blue sky. As he did so he noticed two other Meteors flying in formation high above him. (1)

When he reached an altitude of 16,000 feet and whilst over Southend-on-Sea he suddenly noticed two circular objects traveling in the opposite direction which passed between the two meteors at high speed. 

He described one of the objects as silvery in colour with the other gold. He continued to watch the two objects until they disappeared from his view.

Then as he turned his gaze forward away from the where the objects had been he suddenly saw a bun-shaped object heading straight toward his aircraft. He described the object as having a bun-shaped top, a flange like two saucers in the middle, and a bun underneath.

The object was so close to the aircraft that it completely filled the cockpit windscreen area (estimated at 37 feet at 150 yards). Suddenly, at the last moment, the object swerved and narrowly avoided colliding with the plane.

Salandin was very shaken by the incident and waited for approximately 10 minutes to gather his thoughts before reporting to ground control what had just occurred.

When he landed, he gave a full account of the two incidents that day to Derek Demster who was the 604 Squadron’s intelligence officer who later became the editor of Flying Saucer Review in 1955 who published his story. (2)

Salandin’s encounter was also published in the London Illustrated News. (3)

He was later interviewed by UK author and researcher Timothy Good and he told him, “I have no satisfactory explanation for what I saw, but I know what I saw.” (4)

Intelligent behaviour:

The object made an intelligent high-speed movement to avoid collision with the aircraft.

References:

  1. UFO Evidence published by NICAP (1964) Page 256.
  2. London Illustrated News 2 December 1954.
  3. Flying Saucer Review July 1957.
  4. Tim Good interview in 1985.

 

1956 - THE LAKENHEATH/BENTWATERS INCIDENT

Case summary:

At 2130 hours on 13 August 1956 Airman 2nd Class John Vaccare of the USAF stationed at RAF Bentwaters began to track an object on radar (type AN/MPN-11A) that flew 40-50 miles in 30 seconds which equated to a speed of 7,500 to 9,500 km per hour. Several minutes later he tracked 12 to 15 unidentified radar targets which ‘merged’ together into one large blip on the screen 40 miles northeast of RAF Bentwaters. The size of the blip was considered larger than any known aircraft of the era. The blip then stopped on two occasions briefly before disappearing from the screen. 

At 2200 hours a single radar target tracked by RAF Bentwaters covered an area of 55 miles in 16 seconds which equated to 12,000 km per hour.

At 2255 hours Bentwaters Ground Control radar picked up another target traveling east to west moving at an estimated speed of 2,000-4,000 km per hour.

At approximately the same time someone in the Air Traffic Control Tower observed a ‘bright light’ passing over the airfield from east to west at an approximate altitude of 4,000 feet.

At approximately the same time the pilot of a twin-engine C-47 aircraft flying over RAF Bentwaters reported seeing a ‘light’ pass under his aircraft traveling east to west at a ‘terrific speed’.

Soon after radars at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath detected a stationary object 20-25 miles southwest of the     latter base. At that point the object began to move north at 400-600 mph but there was no acceleration – it was a constant speed. The object was seen to make several abrupt changes of direction without slowing.

At 2330 hours an RAF De Havilland Venom jet interceptor was scrambled from RAF Waterbeach. According to the USAF report (1) on the incident it stated: 

“Pilot advised he had a bright white light in sight and would investigate. At 13 miles west he reported loss of target and white light. Lakenheath (radar) vectored him to a target 10 miles east of Lakenheath and the pilot advised target was on his radar and was ‘locking on’. Pilot then reported he had lost target on his radar. Lakenheath GCA reports that as the Venom passed the target on radar, the target began to chase the fighter.”

The pilot tried to ‘shake’ off the object but he was unable to do so. A second Venom aircraft was scrambled to the area and at one point the two pilots were heard by those in the Lakenheath Tower talking to each other and the original pilot was heard to confirm that he had seen an object which he described as ‘the darndest thing I’ve ever seen’. 

The case was included in the University of Colorado Condon Report (2) and its conclusion was,

“In summary, this is the most puzzling and unusual case in the radar-visual files. The apparent rational, intelligent behaviour of the UFO suggest a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting. However, in view of the inevitable fallibility of witnesses, more conventional explanations of this report cannot be entirely ruled out.”

Intelligent behaviour: 

Controlled high-speed manoeuvres, deliberate following of the Venom aircraft as it attempted to ‘shake’ of the object without success.

References:

  1. USAF Air Intelligence Report filed by Captain Edward. L. Holt on 31 August 1956.
  2. Condon Report (1969).

 

1957 - THE MILTON TORRES ENCOUNTER 

Case summary:

On the evening of 20 May 1957 two Super Sabre jet fighters belonging to the 406th Fighter Interception Wing were on a five-minute QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) standby to scramble at RAF Manston in Kent. The pilots were Lt. Milton Torres and Lt Dave Roberson who were members of the 514th Fighter Squadron on attachment to the 406th. (1)

Late in the evening they were scrambled to an unidentified radar confirmed target that had been seen for some time over the East Anglia area. At the time of the incident the weather conditions were poor with low cloud cover. Both were asked if their aircraft were armed. Torres, who went public with his account many years after the incident confirmed that his aircraft was armed with rockets.

Even though there was poor visibility he was authorised to open fire at the object when he confirmed he had a ‘solid’ target on his onboard radar. Seeking confirmation of the order to open fire he requested the necessary authentication code for the release of his weapons. He described the size of the radar target as being similar to that of a B52 heavy bomber aircraft.

At 15 miles out from the target he was able to a acquire a radar lock-on on the object despite the fact that he did not have a visual on it. However, before being able to fire his salvo of rockets he advised ATC that the object had suddenly broken the lock-on and was speeding away and beyond the range of his onboard radar that was limited to 30 miles.

Upon landing back at RAF Manston, they spoke with ATC who told Torres that the object had disappeared off their radar in just two sweeps which indicated a fantastic speed of several thousands of miles an hour.

Torres states that a day or so later he was interviewed by someone who claimed to work for the National Security Agency who told him not to speak about the incident as it was ‘classified’.

Roberson’s recall of the incident is slightly different stating they were asked if they were armed and because he wasn’t they were both diverted to RAF Bentwaters where they were loaded with rockets. During the incident Roberson was did see the object on his radar but he was unable to get a lock-on and at no time did he have a visual on the object.

Despite Torres going public many years later about the incident no records, either at the National Archives and the RAF have been found to corroborate the incident however, there is no suggestion whatsoever that either men are lying.

Torres retired from the USAF in 1977 with the rank of Major.

Note: This story did not emerge until 1988 when by accident UK researcher and solicitor Harry Harris met with Torres at a social function who asked him if he had ever seen a UFO. As a result, details of the case emerged.

A detailed written account by Torres is contained in Reference 2. (2)

Intelligent behaviour: High speed evasive action.

References:

  1. What do they really Know by M. S. Morgan Amazon books (2020). Pages 36-41.
  2. https://colinandrews.net/UFO-MiltonTorres.html

 

2007 - THE ALDERNEY INCIDENT (CHANNEL ISLANDS) 

Case summary:

At 1338 ours on 23 April 2007, Captain Ray Bowyer took off from Southampton airport in a light aircraft owned by the air carrier Aurigny Air Services bound for the Alderney in the Channel Islands, located close to the coast of France. It was a 45-minute flight Captain Bowyer, a pilot with 18 years of flying experience, had undertaken regularly for eight years. The weather was clear, perfect conditions for flying. There were approximately 10 passengers that were sat directly behind the cockpit of the plane.

As the plane approached the Channel Island of Alderney at an altitude of 4000 feet, Captain Bowyer saw something directly ahead that he initially interpreted as some kind of reflection. He then used binoculars to get a better view and saw an elongated yellow coloured object with sharp ends that he estimated to be in the region of one mile in length. He then noticed a second object that had been partially obscured by the first object. Both objects appeared to be stationary in the sky.

Captain Bowyer then contacted Guernsey ATC and asked if there was any traffic in the position of the objects. This was denied, however, the operator told him there was a faint radar trace of something that was not showing any transponder. Note: the ATC radar was equipped to look for ‘stationary’ objects.

For corroboration he asked a passenger who was sat directly behind him to look for the object and he confirmed that he could see two objects, one directly behind the other.

Further corroboration came from a pilot Captain Patterson who was flying another aircraft that was moving in the opposite direction to Bowyer’s plane. When his plane was near Sark, another of the Channel Islands, the pilot confirmed that he could see one of the elongated yellow unidentified objects.

A short time later Bowyer saw the two objects change position, from being stationary, they now moved to a stack formation, i.e., directly on top of each other. At this point Bowyer was able to see that the objects had a darkened section on the fuselage which was different from the light emitting yellow light of the rest of the object.

At this point he began his descent toward the airport where he was scheduled to land. After passing through a haze layer of clouds he lost sight of the objects.

Duration of the event - 15 minutes. The first object was initially seen at a distance of 55 miles from Captain Bowyer’s aircraft. (1)

Bowyer later said, “This (was) a big object in the sky, very big object. I did not want to be too close to it and it was at that time that we had to descend to land. We descended through the 2000-foot haze layer and lost sight of it.”

“There was no hiding it, they were just there. I wasn’t too happy. I was quite glad to get on the ground….” (2)

Intelligent behaviour: 

Initially the two objects were seen in a stationary position, one behind the other before moving to ‘stack’ formation, on top of each other. They appeared to be identical, huge, structured objects featuring a darkened section in the same position on the fuselage on each of them.  

References:

  1. Ray Bowyer testimony at the National Press Club in Washington D. C. in 2007.
  2. Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Alderney_UFO _sighting.

 

2008 - POLICE HELICOPTER ENCOUNTER IN SOUTH WALES

Case summary:

08 June 2008. At 00:40, an Air Support Unit Police helicopter was coming into land at RAF St Athan airport, South Wales, at the end of a flight, when the pilot saw an illuminated spherical object about the size of a basketball that flew, ground up towards the helicopter as it descended. 

It stopped in front of his face, about three feet outside the cockpit window. It then kept pace with the helicopter, the downwash from the rotor blades having no effect on it at all. 

It was translucent, like a bubble, with a small red and green light side by side inside the sphere. He called the attention of his two colleagues who also saw it. The object then shot off down into a farmyard and disappeared. They followed it and hovered while they searched for it. The sphere then reappeared, and flew towards the Bristol Channel coast, and they followed it again, but then turned back due to running low on fuel. The object continued across the Channel. 

Interestingly, although they could see the sphere with the naked eye, they could not see it with the hi-tech night-vision goggles. The object did not emit a heat signature. The pilot reported the encounter to Cardiff Airport ATC. It was subsequently suggested to the pilot that what he and his crew had seen was a drone. He categorically rejected this explanation, as there was no way a drone could have withstood the downwash of the helicopter rotor blades. 

Source: The pilot was interviewed by Emlyn Williams © SUFON (Swansea UFO Network).

 

2016 - POLICE HELICOPTER CREW FILM UAP ON FLIR CAMERAS

Case summary:

In September 2016 the National Police Air Service (NPAS) unexpectedly released a tweet and some FLIR footage taken by a police helicopter crew.

It was recorded by South Wales police over the Bristol Channel and captured a strange UAP that was only detected on the on-board FLIR camera system. It was filmed for several minutes and was seen moving against the prevailing wind. It was not seen in the visible spectrum by the pilot and crew.

Following the submission of an FOI to NPAS the following response was received. 

On 25th November, almost 2 months later this was their response:

Date: 25/11/2016 

Dear Mr Heseltine, 

Thank you for your request for information, received by West Yorkshire Police on 27/09/16. You requested the following information: With regard to the tweet that was released on 23 September i.e. hot, invisible & flying into the wind" UFO captured by police helicopter In St Athens, Wales With onboard FLIR Camera. 

17/9/2016 - Can you please provide the following information under FOI: How many people were aboard the police helicopter at the time of the sighting? 

At the time of the sighting described above, there were three members on board the aircraft. 

Please provide an audio copy of the incident (as a former police detective I know that all aircrew conversations are automatically recorded). 

Please see the enclosed DVD showing an unidentified object captured by an NPAS aircraft camera. West Yorkshire Police is unable to provide an audio copy of the footage. This is exempt by virtue of Section 30(1) – Investigations and proceedings conducted by a public authority and Section 40(2) – Personal Information. Further to this redactions have been made to the footage and is exempt by virtue of Section 40(2) – Personal Information. Please see appendix A for a full explanation. 

What was the name of the police officer spotter on-board?

The on-board Tactical Flight Officer was PC xxxxxx xxxxxxx. 

Please provide a geographical map of the incident plotting the objects movements as recorded on the FLIR camera. 

West Yorkshire Police do not record flight paths and therefore no information is held. 

What was the total duration of the incident? 

The total duration of the incident was 7 Minutes and 45 seconds. 

Please provide accurate timings of the incident. 

The incident occurred at 21:21. The thermal imaging camera had a date and time setting inaccuracy which had a one hour discrepancy, however after identifying this the camera’s software was updated and this has now been rectified. 

What was the total duration of the FLIR recording? 

The total duration of the thermal imaging camera recording was 7 minutes and 45 seconds. 

Was there any visual sighting by any of the crew at any point during the incident?

West Yorkshire Police do not hold this information. 

Did any ground or airborne radar detect the object recorded on the FLIR camera?

West Yorkshire Police do not hold this information. 

I note that the date shown in the released clip is dated 16th September and not the 17th September as stated? Can you provide an explanation for the discrepancy? 

The thermal imaging camera had a date and time setting inaccuracy which was a one day discrepancy, however after identifying this the camera’s software was updated and this has now been rectified.

Conclusions and further Questions

So, after almost two months the NPAS responded with some limited information. Firstly the positives: I learned the name of the police officer involved and that the total duration for the event was 7 minutes 45 seconds as opposed to the limited video clip that was released by NPAS with their original twitter comment. 

I duly received a DVD of the event lasting 7 min 45 seconds in duration.

I asked for a copy of the audio file from the helicopter for the incident but this was denied. I do not believe this is an inadequate response to my submission and any sensitive information/locations could have been edited out.

Nor could they provide any kind of plotted map of the flight which I find very strange. So if it had been chasing a murder suspect they would not have provided a plot for court? Nor could they provide any information about whether the object had been detected on any radar system. 

An in-depth article on the incident appears in issue 22 of UFO Truth Magazine.

Source: Gary Heseltine

Milton Torres

UK pilots reporting UAP in Overseas airspace

 

 

1942 - CAPTAIN BURGESS WW2 'FOO FIGHTER' ENCOUNTER OVER ITALY

Captain (Flight Sergeant) Burgess, was flying a Wellington bomber with 70 Squadron on a bombing mission, with other three Wellington aircraft, over Italy during 2nd World War, 1942. 

The tail gunner, ready to open fire, reported that a ‘fighter’ was approaching at speed, which appeared as a ‘light’. The light then flew down towards the aircraft, as though in a dive, but when it should have flown past at speed, it suddenly stopped in an instant forward off their starboard wing and it remained in that position. 

The object was described as a ball of dim light, about 7 feet across. 

The captain tried to shake it off by corkscrewing the aircraft several times, but it remained in the same position throughout all the manoeuvres he tried before it departed at high speed.

Upon landing the crew were debriefed about the incident.

Source: © A Foster.

 

1942 - THE CAPTAIN LEVER REPORT OVER ITALY

Narrative Summary:

This case was located at the Public Records Office (PRO) in London and was in a folder that at one time was marked 'Secret’. The contents revealed a hitherto unknown WW2 case of tremendous historical significance. 

Such was the importance of this case the file revealed a covering letter by the Air Vice Marshall Moody of No. 5 Group, Royal Air Force which reads,

“Herewith a copy of a report received from a crew of a Lancaster after a raid over Turin. The crew refuses to be shaken in their story in the face of the usual banter and ridicule.”

On the night of 28/29 November 1942, Captain (a Warrant Officer) Lever (61 Squadron based at Syerston in Nottinghamshire, England) was the pilot of a Lancaster bomber aircraft (crew of eight) that were taking part on a wartime raid over Turin when he and the rest of the crew observed a huge cylindrical UFO at over 200-300 feet in length.

On 3 December 1942 an unnamed Intelligence Officer wrote a report on the case having spoken to the crew a short time after the incident. Part of the report reads as follows:

“The object referred to above was seen by the entire crew of the above aircraft. They believe it to have been 200-300 feet in length and its width is estimated at 1/5th or 1/6th of its length. The speed was estimated at 500 mph and it had four pairs of red lights spaced at equal distances along its body. These lights did not appear in any way like exhaust flames; no trace was seen. The object kept a level course.

The crew saw the object twice during the raid, and brief details are given below:

After bombing, time 2240 hours, a/c height 11,000 feet. The aircraft at this time was some 10/15 miles south-west of Turin travelling in a north-westerly direction. The object was travelling south-east at the same height or slightly below the aircraft.

After bombing, time 2245 hours, a/c height 14,000 feet. The aircraft was approaching the Alps when the object was seen again traveling west-south-west up a valley in the Alps below the level of the peaks. The lights appeared to go out and the object disappeared from view.”

All the aircrew saw the object on two occasions during the raid.

No explanation has been found to the account the object that was seen twice.

Historically, this case is of major significance due to the size of the object, it structure, with rows of lights equally spaced out and the fact that it was estimated to be moving at a speed of 500 mph which would eliminate any kind of airship.

Captain Lever also reported seeing a similar object several months prior to this incident when flying over Amsterdam, Holland.

Aspects of intelligent behaviour: 

Equally spaced rows of lights on the fuselage suggesting intelligence design.

References:

  1. Pages 10-11, Out of the Shadows by David Clarke and Andy Roberts (published by PIATKUS2002.
  2. AIR 14/2076 Dated 3rd December 1942. What do they really Know by M. S. Morgan Amazon books (2020). Pages 1-2.

 

1966 - BRITISH PILOT ENCOUNTER OVER CYPRUS

July 1966. An RAF Flight Lieutenant (Ret. Squadron Leader) with 19 (F) Squadron, based at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus was involved in a UAP encounter over the island.

As the duty ‘alert’ pilot, he was scrambled during the afternoon of a very hot clear day, to look for a bright metallic silver coloured cone-shaped object that was seen moving very slowly high above Cyprus. 

He was flying an English Electric Lightning Mk2a jet, one of the most powerful jets at that time, and started climbing at speed towards the object, however, he was unable to close on it.

He was given authority to go supersonic, and opened-up full after-burner, and climbed the Lightning past its official ceiling of 40,000ft, up to 60,000ft, when the thin air caused one of the engines to stall. At that altitude, as he looked upward he saw a huge cone-shaped metallic object, with no apparent windows, at an altitude of 168,000ft, and estimated to be a half a mile in diameter. 

At this point his aircraft suffered an engine flameout that caused it to fall/descend to approximately 30,000ft before his second engine restarted again. 

Curious, the pilot wanted to see if the object had a shadow side (as the sun had been behind him), so he flew towards the North African coast, and looked back at it, and found that it did have a shadow side, showing that it was a solid cone-shaped object. 

Running low on fuel he returned to base, where he was debriefed by the Wing Commander and a report was written up. 

Commenting on the incident the pilot said, “I don’t think it originated on Earth.”    

Source: © A Foster.

 

25 JULY 1967 - PILOT UAP ENCOUNTER NEAR GREENLAND

Captain David Willmott, a pilot for ‘British Eagle Airways’ was flying a Bristol Britannia 324 Series aircraft, (Flight EG:182, G-ARKA) from New York JFK to London Heathrow LHR, with 120 passengers on board.

When south of Greenland, (flying at about 300mph), they noticed on their port side (looking north), a brightly lit whiteish orange glowing object, which was following them, and keeping pace with the aircraft. 

Captain Willmott contacted Air Traffic Control at Shannon, Ireland, to advise of the situation. Shortly after that, he said that two American military jets (Super Sabre F100’s), approached the object. He was surprised how quickly the jets had arrived, as he knew of no base in southern Greenland. 

The pilots were reporting to ATC on the airline radio frequency. As the crew continued to watch, and as the military jets approached the object suddenly tilted upwards at a 30-degree angle and shot off at high speed towards space, with the jets unable to keep up with it. 

Captain Willmott lost contact with the jets and he presumed they had returned to base. Upon return to LHR, the crew were debriefed by four men in suits, (not from the airline), one whom they believed was from the MOD, and three other American men. 

The captain said, “They wanted to hear our story and to tell us not to talk about it.” 

The captain retired with 26,000 hours flying time and having flown in over 50 different aircraft types, for about 30 different organisations, including military and commercial airlines).

Source: © A Foster.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Italy 1942

International pilots transiting UK/Irish airspace reporting UAPs

This will cater for international pilots/aircrew UAP reports whilst transiting through UK/Irish airspace.

UK aviation personnel reporting UAP events in Britain (including Ireland)

This section will cater for aviation professionals like radar operators, Air Traffic Controllers, technicians etc., to report their UAP events.

Blog

10/JUN/2024 - Research article by Gary Heseltine released to the media regarding historical incursions into UK airspace.

An historical look at UAP Incursions in British Airspace: An Assessment

By Gary Heseltine 

Founder UK Pilots Reporting UAP

In 2021 according to Baroness Goldie in a debate in the House of Lords, there has never been a report that has confirmed that the UK’s airspace has ever been penetrated by a UFO/UAP.

Successive British governments over the last 75 years have steadfastly maintained that UFOs are nothing more than misidentified man-made objects, stars, atmospheric phenomena or simple mistakes by the observer etc. 

In late 2009, after more than 50 years of operation, the MoD suddenly closed its UFO reporting facility as part of   a cost cutting exercise. Its rationale for doing so was based on the fact during all of that time they had found   no evidence had emerged to confirm the existence of UFOs as in extraterrestrial craft. Ironically the closure       of the UFO Desk came at a time of increased reports       of strange aerial activity in the skies above Britain.

However, despite the lack of interest on behalf of the MoD, UFO encounters continued to be reported to the police, military bases and private web based groups. The only difference now for the police and the military in particular was that nothing happened to the reports. There were no investigations, no determinations made based on recovered evidence etc. The reports were simply left to gather dust on police and military hard drives. A handful     of UK groups have taken up the challenge of cataloguing of British UFO reports.

Today, with a fragmented reporting network, obtaining statistics on UFO activity in the UK cannot be accurately measured and with one single decision the MoD had perhaps achieved its unofficial aim, that of ridding itself     of the ‘UFO’ problem once and for all.

I say this because it is self-evident for anyone who has really studied the historical connection between the Ministry of Defence and UFOs that their position has and has always been demonstrably false. Let me explain why.

 

The Foo Fighters Phenomenon

Almost no-one apart from UFO enthusiasts will be aware of the ‘foo fighter’ phenomenon of the Second World War where numerous British and American pilots encountered strange glowing balls of orange light* that would follow their aircraft during raids over France and Germany. Fearing that they were new deadly weapons the pilots would often take evasive action trying to shake of these mysterious objects yet, despite their best efforts, they couldn’t do so. Nor did these objects ever attack any aircraft which is puzzling if these objects were German advanced weapons.

Many of these encounters were duly reported to the RAF/USAF authorities by confused aircrews as they related the incidents during intelligence debriefs. As was common practice pilots were told to keep quiet about     their experiences for fear of frightening the other aircrews.

We now know after decades of research since the end     of the war, that foo fighters were seen in all theatres of   the war by aircrews on all sides of the conflict. Craft that appeared to be unlike any man-made object, which   moved in terms of speed and angular manoeuvres that were far beyond the capabilities of the aircraft of that era.

However, despite hundreds of ‘foo fighter’ accounts     having been catalogued the mainstream media have largely failed to produce any noteworthy television documentaries of the phenomena which begs the       question – why?

 

What about UFO incursions in the UK? 

Here are some historical UFO reports in British Airspace:

1952 – The Little Rissington Incident 

On 21 October 1952, Flight Lieutenant Mike Swiney flying a Gloster Meteor Mk 7 fighter aircraft was on a training flight with student David Crofts, a Navy Lieutenant as his backseat passenger when at 13,000-14,000 feet they passed through some clouds to see three white circular object literally ‘framed’ in their cockpit window.

Swiney’s immediate reaction were that they were parachutes canopies but soon realised that they were circular in shape and they all appeared to be ‘stationary’   in the sky.

The objects quickly began to climb so Swiney pursued them as they soon reached 30,000 feet in altitude. As the aircraft climbed he noted that the objects were more ‘plate-like’ in shape.

Then the objects changed course and moved from his   port side to his starboard side. 

Initially it was Swiney that saw the objects before he alerted Croft, who was sat beside him, to see if he too could see them. Crofts quickly confirmed that he could   see the three objects. A short time later they had sped away and out of view.

Swiney had been initially keen to pursue them but after talking with Crofts they decided not continue because there were accounts of US pilots having done so and some of these pursuits had proved fatal. Neither one     was able to accurately gauge their size.

Swiney duly reported the incident to air traffic control and he was told to return to RAF Little Rissington.

No official RAF documents have been found to date corroborate their accounts however, there is no suspicion that they are lying about the incident.

The only things that confirms the incident occurred are respective flying logbooks and the entries they made on them. In addition, the RAF Little Rissington Operational Record Book states,

21.10.52 - “Flight Lt M J E, Instructor and Lt D Crofts RN, student, sighted three mysterious saucer shaped objects travelling at high speed at about 35.000 feet whilst on a high-level navigation exercise in Meteor V11. Later ATCC Gloucester reported radar plots to confirm this, but the     Air Ministry discounted any possibility of ‘extraterrestrial’ objects.”

Swiney would later rise to the senior rank of Air Commodore and when he was able to, he asked to see the report into his sighting. When he did so he was surprised when he was shown the file, despite the fact   that he had been told that the records of his incident had been routinely destroyed after being held for five years. The report he was shown has never been released. This suggests that more documents on the case do exist but are being withheld from public release.

Again this begs the question, if there is nothing to hide then why don’t the MoD release all the documents to be transparent on the issue of UFOs?

The Little Rissington Incident is not the only case where unknown objects have been flying in British airspace.

Here are a few more cases that bely the lie promulgated by the MoD and successive governments.

1954 – The Flt Lt Salandin Pilot Encounter

At 1615 hours on 14 October 1954, Flight Lt. James. R. Salandin took off from RAF North Weald, home of the 604th Squadron, flying a twin jet Meteor fighter and had begun climbing southwards into a clear blue sky. As he   did so he noticed two other Meteors flying in formation high above him. 

When he reached an altitude of 16,000 feet and whilst over Southend-on-Sea he suddenly noticed two circular objects traveling in the opposite direction which passed between the two meteors at high speed. 

He described one of the objects as silvery in colour with the other gold. He continued to watch the two objects   until they disappeared from his view.

Then as he turned his gaze forward away from the where the objects had been he suddenly saw a bun-shaped object heading straight toward his aircraft. He described the object as having a bun-shaped top, a flange like two saucers in the middle, and a bun underneath.

The object was so close to the aircraft that it completely filled the cockpit windscreen area (estimated at 37 feet     at 150 yards). Suddenly, at the last moment, the object swerved and narrowly avoided colliding with the plane.

Salandin was very shaken by the incident and waited for approximately 10 minutes to gather his thoughts before reporting to ground control what had just occurred.

When he landed, he gave a full account of the two incidents that day to Derek Demster who was the 604 Squadron’s intelligence officer (who later became the editor of Flying Saucer Review in 1955) and published   his story. 

He was later interviewed by UK author and researcher Timothy Good and he told him, “I have no satisfactory explanation for what I saw, but I know what I saw.” 

1956 – The Lakenheath/Bentwaters incident

At 2130 hours on 13 August 1956 Airman 2nd Class John Vaccare of the USAF stationed at RAF Bentwaters began to track an object on radar (type AN/MPN-11A) that flew 40-50 miles in 30 seconds which equated to a speed of 7,500 to 9,500 km per hour. Several minutes later he tracked 12 to 15 unidentified radar targets which ‘merged’ together into one large blip on the screen 40 miles northeast of RAF Bentwaters. The size of the blip was considered larger than any known aircraft of the era.     The blip then stopped on two occasions briefly before disappearing from the screen. 

At 2200 hours a single radar target tracked by RAF Bentwaters covered an area of 55 miles in 16 seconds which equated to 12,000 km per hour.

At 2255 hours Bentwaters Ground Control radar picked   up another target traveling east to west moving at an estimated speed of 2,000-4,000 km per hour.

At approximately the same time someone in the Air Traffic Control Tower observed a ‘bright light’ passing over the airfield from east to west at an approximate altitude of 4,000 feet.

At approximately the same time the pilot of a twin-engine C-47 aircraft flying over RAF Bentwaters reported seeing   a ‘light’ pass under his aircraft traveling east to west at a ‘terrific speed’.

Soon after radars at RAF Bentwaters and RAF Lakenheath detected a stationary object 20-25 miles southwest of the latter base. At that point the object   began to move north at 400-600 mph but there was no acceleration – it was a constant speed. The object was seen to make several abrupt changes of direction without slowing.

At 2330 hours an RAF De Havilland Venom jet interceptor was scrambled from RAF Waterbeach. According to the USAF report on the incident it stated: 

“Pilot advised he had a bright white light in sight and   would investigate. At 13 miles west he reported loss of target and white light. Lakenheath (radar) vectored him to a target 10 miles east of Lakenheath and the pilot advised target was on his radar and was ‘locking on’. Pilot then reported he had lost target on his radar. Lakenheath GCA reports that as the Venom passed the target on radar, the target began to chase the fighter.”

The pilot tried to ‘shake’ off the object but he was unable to do so. A second Venom aircraft was scrambled to the area and at one point the two pilots were heard by those   in the Lakenheath Tower talking to each other and the original pilot was heard to confirm that he had seen an object which he described as ‘the darndest thing I’ve     ever seen’. 

The case was included in the University of Colorado Condon Report and its conclusion was,

“In summary, this is the most puzzling and unusual case   in the radar-visual files. The apparent rational, intelligent behaviour of the UFO suggest a mechanical device of unknown origin as the most probable explanation of this sighting. However, in view of the inevitable fallibility of witnesses, more conventional explanations of this report cannot be entirely ruled out.”

Perhaps the most noteworthy of all the air incursion reports in the UK is the one involving a USAF pilot called Milton Torres who in 1957 was stationed at RAF Manston in Kent. Here is a brief summary of his story.

1957 – The Milton Torres Encounter 

On the evening of 20 May 1957 two Super Sabre jet fighters belonging to the 406th Fighter Interception Wing were on a five-minute QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) standby to scramble at RAF Manston in Kent. The USAF pilots were Lt. Milton Torres and Lt Dave Roberson who were members of the 514th Fighter Squadron on attachment   to the 406th.

Late in the evening they were scrambled to an unidentified radar confirmed target that had been seen for some time over the East Anglia area. At the time of the incident the weather conditions were poor with low cloud cover. Both were asked if their aircraft were armed. 

Even though there was poor visibility Torres was authorised to open fire at the object when he confirmed   he had a ‘solid’ target on his onboard radar!

Seeking confirmation of the order to open fire he requested the necessary authentication code for the release of his weapons. He described the size of the   radar target as being similar to that of a B52 heavy bomber aircraft.

At 15 miles out from the target he was able to acquire a radar lock-on on the object despite the fact that he did not have a visual on it. However, before being able to fire his salvo of rockets he advised ATC that the object had suddenly broken the lock-on and was speeding away and beyond the range of his onboard radar that was limited to 30 miles.

Upon landing back at RAF Manston, they spoke with ATC who told Torres that the object had disappeared off their radar in just two sweeps which indicated a fantastic speed of several thousands of miles an hour.

Torres states that a day or so later he was interviewed by someone who claimed to work for the National Security Agency who told him not to speak about the incident as     it was ‘classified’.

During the incident Lt Roberson confirmed that he saw   the object on his radar but he was unable to get a lock-on and at no time did he have a visual on the object.

Despite Torres going public many years later about the incident no records, either at the National Archives and   the RAF have been found to corroborate the incident however, there is no suggestion whatsoever that either men are lying.

Torres retired from the USAF in 1977 with the rank of Major.

It begs the question, does this case with multiple pilot, multiple ground and airborne radar confirm that an object had penetrated UK airspace? 

And more importantly that the military authorities believed that the object was real enough to authorise Torries to   fire his salvo of rockets at it over the skies of Britain.

Note: This story did not emerge until 1988 when by accident UK researcher and solicitor Harry Harris met   with Torres at a social function who asked him if he had ever seen a UFO. As a result, details of the case emerged.

Note: References to these historical cases can be found on the www.ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk website.

 

More recent incursions

The incidents I’ve highlighted are not alone, there are many others that have been reported over the decades that demonstrate that UFOs were being seen in UK airspace on a regular basis despite the MoD and successive governments dismissing all such reports.

1980 – The Rendlesham Forest Incident

For example, Britain’s most famous UFO case, the Rendlesham Forest Incident that occurred in late December 1980 in Suffolk.

In 2023, after five years of research and three years of writing, I published my book on the case called ‘NON-HUMAN The Rendlesham Forest UFO Incidents: 42   Years of Denial.’

In the conclusions I detailed 17 different timed events involving various UAP of differing sizes and shapes   that occurred over an approximate seven day period in late December 1980.

Despite many military witnesses going on the record publicly, the British attitude is that there is nothing to see, there is no evidence to believe that UK airspace has been penetrated or demonstrated a threat if any kind however, the sheer weight of military witness testimony in this one case totally contradicts that.

Here are several examples of UFOs seen by some of military witnesses:

Sergeant Jim Penniston involved in what has become known as the 1st night landing of a structured triangular craft approximately 3 metres by 3 metres that left three ground impressions.

Sergeant Adrian Bustinza/Airman Larry Warren who corroborate that a second landing took place several nights later in a farmer’s field that was witnessed by many USAF security police officers and senior officers (including the Base Commander, Colonel Gordon Williams) and it was also being filmed by movie cameras!

Airman Steve Longero was a direct witness to a UFO shining a beam into the nuclear bunkers of the Weapon Storage Area at RAF Bentwaters on one of the nights of UAP activity.

Lt Col. Charles Halt/Sergeant Monroe Nevels (and others) saw multiple UFOs in and above Rendlesham Forest which made incredible high-speed turns and manoeuvres including a high-speed approach and a beam of light   being shone down from 1000/2000 feet altitude close to their ground position!

 

Police Helicopter UAP Encounters

It is not only fixed wing aircraft that encounter UAP. Here are two examples where police helicopter crews have encountered strange objects in recent years:

2008 – Police helicopter UAP encounter over South Wales

08 June 2008. At 00:40, an Air Support Unit Police helicopter was coming into land at RAF St Athan airport, South Wales, at the end of a flight, when the pilot saw an illuminated spherical object about the size of a basketball that flew, ground up towards the helicopter as it descended. 

It stopped in front of his face, about three feet outside the cockpit window. It then kept pace with the helicopter, the powerful downwash from the rotor blades having no     effect on it at all. 

It was translucent, like a bubble, with a small red and green light side by side inside the sphere. He called the attention of his two colleagues who also saw it. The object then shot off down into a farmyard and disappeared. They followed it and hovered while they searched for it. The sphere then reappeared, and it flew towards the Bristol Channel coast. They followed it for a time before they   had to abandon the pursuit as they had to turn back due   to running low on fuel. 

Interestingly, although they could see the sphere with     the naked eye, they could not see it with the hi-tech   night-vision goggles. The object did not emit a heat signature. The pilot reported the encounter to Cardiff Airport ATC. It was subsequently suggested to the pilot that what he and his crew had seen was a drone. He categorically rejected this explanation, as there was no way a drone could have withstood the downwash of the helicopter rotor blades. 

2016 – Police Helicopter films an unknown object on its FLIR cameras

In September 2016 the National Police Air Service (NPAS) unexpectedly released a tweet and some FLIR footage taken by a police helicopter crew.

It was recorded by South Wales police over the Bristol Channel and captured a strange UAP that was only detected on the on-board FLIR camera system. It was filmed for seven and a half minutes and was seen moving against the prevailing wind. It was not seen in the visible spectrum by the pilot and crew.

I duly submitted an FOI request and was sent the footage which is bizarre and does not show any kind of recognisable conventional object. It is circular with no wings or tail, moving against the wind and is without any kind of propulsion system.

 

Commercial and Private Pilot UAP reports

Over the years there have been dozens of commercial and private pilots in the UK that have reported UFO/UAP encounters in UK airspace.

Following a recent submission of an FOI to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) their subsequent reply to me confirmed that the term Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena was not recognised by them and there     were no set procedures for pilots to report UAP.

Since 1998 pilot reports involving any kind of air incident are dealt with by the UK Airprox Board who investigate   the event and make a determination as to the cause. 

Their determinations can range from pilot error, balloons, drones etc., but also has a category called ‘unknown object’ distinct from the former explanations.

Whilst the majority of ‘airmiss’ cases are determined to   be ‘drones’ or ‘likely to be drones’ the category itself leaves many of the reports open to interpretation. 

For example the legal height for a drone is just 400 feet yet many of the cases involve strange objects that are seen at much higher altitudes, which would be prone to high wind speeds and many have descriptions that do   not correspond to commercial drones.

Here are several examples that featured in a newspaper article in 2020 that illustrate how close ‘unknown objects’ are seen in close proximity to passenger aircraft, often     to within 20 feet!

These cases offer clear examples where the risk of collision was deemed extremely high coupled with all its obvious associated air safety implications. 

A - On October 16, 2020 moments after an Airbus A321 had taken off from London's Heathrow airport a UFO was seen at an altitude of 3,000ft and just six metres away from the left wing of the plane!

Safety regulators of the UK Airprox Board classed the near-miss as 'category A' - meaning there was a serious risk of collision.

The object was described as a bright red object which   may have been a drone but the pilots were unable to be certain.

B - In September 2020 another unidentified object – possibly a drone, came within seconds of colliding with another aircraft as it passed within 10 feet of a Boeing   737 at an altitude of 8000 feet.

C - In the same month and year, another object, possibly   a drone, was spotted within feet of an EasyJet Airbus A320, carrying 186 passengers, that was seen at an altitude of 8000 feet, shortly after it had taken off from Manchester Airport.

(https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13550827/ufo-near-miss-crash-plane-heathrow/)

 

The historical U.S/U.K ‘special relationship’ is non-existent on UAP reporting

The British attitude to UFOs or UAP (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) as they have been retitled in recent years has historically been based on the lead provided by the United States and our centuries old ‘special relationship’ with them.

The United States has been the leading country in the Western world to have ‘studied’ UFOs via a succession   of investigations i.e. Project Sign, Project Grudge and     the famous Project Blue Book.

For decades the U.S. stated that there was no evidence   to suggest that any of the reports from around the world indicated incursions by extraterrestrial craft.

However, after decades of research, it is now widely acknowledged that Project Blue Book was actually     nothing more than a public relations exercise, a front-   desk as it were for the Air Force to give the impression     to the public that they were doing serious research into   the phenomena, yet in reality they were doing little or no proper investigations.

In 1969 the USAF closed Project Blue Book on the grounds of lack of evidence for an extraterrestrial explanation following the conclusions of the Condon Committee report. The Condon report was something of   a whitewash itself and its conclusions did not align to the actual facts. 

For example, the report concluded that there was no evidence to support the extraterrestrial hypothesis despite that fact that 8% of the 12000 cases remained unidentified after investigation by the USAF!

Prior to 2017 the UK had always followed the U.S. lead   on UFOs however, since then, at least publicly, the British attitude has differed completely from that of its American counterparts. 

Why there has been such a wide divergence on UAP is not known however, we do know that behind the scenes (via a Canadian MP called Larry Mcguire) the UK Authorities at military level, do discuss UAP via the secretive and little known ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence group which comprises the United States, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

 

Examples of UK Airprox Reports with a determination of ‘unknown object’

I recently researched UK Airprox Board reports for 2023 and 2024 and found several cases that were designated as ‘unknown objects’. Of the 19 listed as ‘unknown’ for 2023 there are at least 12 that could be deemed as involving ‘UAP’ based on the object’s descriptions and movements etc.

Here are several reports from that category that illustrate that point to unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) being seen regularly in UK airspace and with each one  there are clear air safety implications involved.

UK Airprox report number: 2023033

At 0713 hours on 12 March 2023 an A320 pilot reported that on arrival into Heathrow, that he had seen a ‘drone’ was seen ahead of the aircraft which then passed below and under the right side of it. 

The object appeared to be a large circular structure with twin upper and lower circles connected by a vertical rod/connection (similar to a barbell shape). 

The pilot stated that the object was seen at an altitude of 18000 feet approximately ten miles from TANET.

He said it looked like a “reasonable size but hard to gauge exactly” and was seen within 500/1000 feet of the aircraft and the Board determined that the cause was an ‘unknown object’.

UK Airprox report number: 2023043

At 1519 hours on 8 April 2023 the pilot of B787 reported that on approach to Heathrow RW09L, they had encounters a ‘possible drone’.

At approximately 1500-2000ft over Windsor they encountered a red object was seen passing the right-hand side of the aircraft at the same level, a few metres from the wingtip. 

The object appeared to be red and stationary.

The encounter was corroborated by a crew member a following aircraft who also saw the object. Police met     with the aircrew upon landing to gather more information.

The reported separation between the aircraft and the object was no more than several metres from the wingtip.

The board concluded that the risk of collision was high   and that the object seen was deemed ‘unknown’.

UK Airprox report number: 2023164

At 1129 hours on 19 June 2023 the pilot of an A320 reported that whilst in a holding pattern over Ockham whilst on his approach to London Heathrow (LHR) and     at an altitude of 8500 feet a possible drone flew into the middle of the holding pattern.

The object was so close that the fuselage golden colour was visible from the cockpit. 

The reported separation was listed at just 100 feet and deemed by the Board to be of a high risk of collision.

The pilot described that the object had been a little bit below their aircraft during the holding pattern and could not describe the ‘drone’ further. Of interest is that fact     that neither primary or secondary radar had detected the object.

The Board listed the object as ‘unknown’.

And finally here are two reports from 2024 that could easily fit into the ‘UAP’ category.

UK Airprox report number: 2024033:

At 1310 hours on 5 March 2024 a Beagle Pub light aircraft was flying at 1300 feet near Tutbury when it saw a dark blue object, which may have been stationary in the sky that passed by it within 20 metres!

The Airprox report concluded that there was a high risk     of a collision and that the object seen was categorised     as ‘unknown’.

UK Airprox report number: 2024040:

At 1521 hours on 25 March 2024 a F35 military jet encountered a high speed dark coloured object that was seen to pass under the aircraft on its right side at a slightly lower altitude i.e. 11970 feet! 

The object was not detected on ground radar and the Airprox Board determined that there was a high risk of collision and deemed the object involved as ‘unknown’.

 

Conclusions

It is likely that the United States Congress will vote to adopt the provisions of the Safe Airspace for Americans Act at the end of this year. 

If successful this legislation will give legal protections for the first time to American civilian pilots when reporting UAP incidents using a formal set of procedures. This is     an unprecedented bill that will truly make history if it becomes law at the end of 2024.

And note, the United States has already admitted that these objects are ‘real’ as in physical craft and they are     at present of unknown origin.

Surely after decades of stigma all pilots around the world deserve to be able to report UAP sightings without fear     of being grounded, intimidated or being ridiculed.

With the stigma beginning to recede I would suggest that UK pilots also deserve to be treated in the same way and that it is time for the government and the Civil Aviation Authority to liaise with it counterparts in the U.S seek to replicate the proposed commercial pilot reporting procedures.

Indeed I urge all countries to adopt similar UAP reporting procedures around the world.

Countries really need to work together for common aims based on the fact the UAPs are seen globally and there   is only one human race.

The days of derision decreasing in the mainstream media the UK authorities need to recognise that fact and act accordingly.

In the meantime UK Pilots Reporting UAP members (www.ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk) are on standby to investigate any UK pilot encounters by military, commercial or private pilots.

Please visit the above website to leave a message and we'll get back to you. All contact will be treated in the strictest confidence.

*All the historical pilot cases/references mentioned in     this article can be found on the UK Pilots Reporting UAP website (www.ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk)

Gary Heseltine, Founder of UK Pilots Reporting UAP

 

12/FEB/2024 - Launch press release - UK Pilots Reporting UAP (UKPRU)

Launched today is a new website, UK Pilots Reporting UAP (www.ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk) the brainchild of Gary Heseltine, a long-time respected British UFO/UAP researcher and author.

Heseltine, a former police detective and the current Vice President of the International Coalition for Extraterrestrial Research (ICER) has now decided to tackle the issue of UK pilots who have had encounters with UAP.

He has put together a small specialist team of leading UK UAP researchers (Alan Foster, Dave Hodrien and Chris Gaffney) who will investigate British pilot reports (and other aviation personnel including radar operators and     Air Traffic Controllers).

The team stress that there are genuine air safety implications for pilots who for decades have been seeing strange objects in the sky that they cannot explain.

Since 2017 there has been a resurgence of interest in     the subject of UFOs, now referred to as Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP), especially in the United States where there have been a number of Congressional Hearings held recently.

The issue of ‘air safety’ in relation to UAP encounters         is now the subject of proposed new legislation (in association with Americans for Safe Aerospace - https://www.safeaerospace.org) in the U.S. that seeks       to coordinate and standardise UAP reporting procedures   and also calls for greater transparency on the issue with regard to pilot reports.

Heseltine believes that all countries should be doing likewise and wants to raise the issue of pilots reporting UAP in British airspace to the highest levels of     government and the aviation industry.

Selected media quotes from me:

“UAPs are seen by pilots on every continent and the UK   is no different. There needs to be a worldwide, coordinated and standardised set of reporting procedures along with greater transparency on the issue.”

“I believe the time is now right for a new phase of research. In recent years the U.S. authorities have confirmed that craft of unknown origin are flying in their airspace with impunity, many of which move in ways     which seemingly defy our current understanding of physics.”

“I have no doubt whatsoever that UK pilots and International pilots (transiting through UK/Irish airspace) are encountering similar objects but they rarely report the incidents for fear of it effecting their career and being the subject of ridicule. It’s high time British pilots were encouraged to come forward without such stigma         being involved and that there should be a transparent, standardised set of reporting procedures to deal with       such reports.” 

“The stigma that has dogged the UFO/UAP issue for decades is fast receding with a worldwide resurgence in interest in the subject  in recent years. These objects are real and represent a clear air safety issue in the UK which needs to be fully addressed.”

UK Pilots Reporting UAP* aims to address these issues.

We appeal to British pilots and aviation personnel to     come forward and contact us.

Your communications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

*UK Pilots Reporting UAP is a non-profit website.

Gary Heseltine, founder and press spokesperson

 

15 FEB 24 Launch Update:

The UK Pilots website has been heavily promoted on X with 18k views on one particular tweet by Christopher Sharp of the Liberation Times.

In addition, UAP News did a full page on the promoting the launch press release. 

The UFOTalker podcast with Michael Ryan did a nice 'shout out' for the website on his latest show.

Thank you for all those supporting this initiative.

We now have UK Pilots Reporting UAP Facebook and X pages.

Standby for further updates. GH.

 

29 FEB 24

On 12 February 2024 after several months of preparation, I launched a new website ’UK Pilots Reporting UAP (www.ukpilotsreportinguap.co.uk).

I have put together a small team of experienced UAP/Aviation researchers, Dave Hodrien, Alan Foster   and Chris Gaffney.

I have been frustrated for a while that the UK is lagging   far behind the developments that have been taking place in the United States since 2017 and the famous New York Times article which revealed details of the hitherto secret AATIP UFO study program.

Despite numerous significant legislative procedures set in place in the U.S. the UK by comparison has done little or nothing, at least publicly to do likewise? This is odd in     itself because the UK usually takes its lead from the U.S. and adopts the same approach, but not this time. Why not?

The UK seems almost totally dismissive of the U.S. developments, it’s almost as if they don’t exist! The trouble is they do so when the likes of former military pilot, Ryan Graves, argues the need for U.S. air safety regarding UAP and after the successful launch of ‘Americans for Safe Aerospace’ organisation (www.safeaerospace.org), I believe the time is now right to try to raise the UAP issue of ‘air safety’ for pilots in the UK.

I have no doubt whatsoever that UK pilots are encountering UAP in British air space but few incidents   are reported and those that are, are handled in an uncoordinated way. 

At present, as far as I can see, the term UAP is not even mentioned in any reporting procedure for pilots, military   or civilian! I think this is unacceptable and the team at UK Pilots Reporting UAP are determined to raise the issue at the highest levels of the aviation industry. 

However, I don’t think this is going to be easy because of the ‘backward’ approach to the topic taken by the British government, the poor mainstream media coverage and the failure of the aviation industry to recognise and adapt its reporting procedures to deal with legitimate UAP issues. 

On behalf of the team, all I can say is that we are going to try and make a difference and it won’t be quick. It will take time.

The website will cater for UK pilots reporting UAP in British airspace and also overseas.

In addition, we will also record UAP reports made by       UK aviation employees (i.e. radar operators, air traffic controllers etc), whether they be military or civilian. For example, if you think of the 2006 Chicago O’Hare Airport incident in the United States it was the baggage handlers who looked up into the sky and were the first to report to the Tower that there was a UAP hovering above one of   the terminal gates. 

Later other aviation personnel came forward and the case was eventually confirmed as a genuine UFO/UAP related incident. 

Therefore, if a similar incident took place, say at London Heathrow Airport, UK Pilots Reporting UAP (UKPRU) would seek to obtain staff reports to gather comprehensive data in order to make a reasoned determination, based on ‘best evidence’ as to the nature of the incident.

UKPRU are determined to be transparent and when investigations are complete, so we will release our final report into an incident to whoever wishes to examine it.

Whilst we fully support the scientific method and approach we recognise the nature of UAP reporting is far from ideal, due to the nature of the subject matter that is still dogged stigma, albeit at a receding level.

We also aim to provide searchable scientific data deriving from a stand-a-lone database maintained by Dave Hodrien.

Ultimately we will use that data to ask questions of the British Government and the UK aviation industry regarding the UAP issue. 

We believe there needs to be a genuine discussion about UAP in British and Irish airspace. GH.

 

DAVE HODRIEN BLOG ENTRY 21 MAR 24

A British paratrooper veteran, Franc Milburn, has recently come forward with claims that he spoke with a former member of the British special forces, and numerous Tornado jet pilots and navigators, who revealed to him details of UAP incidents.

The British Special Forces member apparently informed him of the retrieval of a downed clearly non-human craft with surviving occupants that occurred in the late 1980s.

On a previous occasion he claims that two Tornado pilots and two navigators informed him of an ordered intercept of two disc-shaped UAPs which outmaneuvered them before they were able to shoot them down.

Details on what he shared can be found in the below Mail Online article:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13209889/UK-paratrooper-British-special-forces-recovered-downed-non-human-craft-northern-England.html?ito=email_share_article-top

No further information is known at this time, and he has not disclosed the names of his sources to the journalists involved in the article. However, it is entirely possible that such incidents may have actually taken place.


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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