My UFO Sighting - Strangeness Here Please!

[mr_rodge]

Afternoon all,

Firstly, it wasn't actually a flying saucer!

Me and three passengers went on a jolly from Full Sutton to Beccles on Sunday for a bite to eat and a look at the boats. Whilst it was a great day and the flight went very well (despite the very busy airspace around Norwich/Seething in particular) there was an occurrence that was a little strange, or at least it was a first for me! So I thought I'd share and invite others to share weird and wonderful experiences.

It was a scenic route, over the Humber to Grimsby, down the coast to Skegness, over the Wash and down to Beccles via Wymondham and Reedham (for a look at the Southern Broads).

Somewhere between Mabelthorpe and Skegness I saw a black dot directly in front at a similar level (2,500ft), which wasn't moving. I immediately assumed it was a helicopter and that it was a good few miles away so I didn't need to take immediate action. I was wrong. After a very brief look at my chart I glanced back out of the window and saw the object still wasn't moving, it was a great deal smaller than an aircraft and that we were on a collision course with something that, due to its size, was a heck of a lot closer than it appeared! Within a split second I'd rolled to the right and the object just whipped under the left wing (or at least it looked that close). My heart was pounding and my passengers were merely pleasantly surprised, luckily.

Anyway, in that split second I caught a glimpse of what the object was as it whipped down our left. It was a small helium balloon, star-shaped silver, maybe 40cm across with a little ribbon hanging from the underneath! How unusual! I can well imagine that if I was the child who'd lost my balloon I'd soon have gotten over my loss if I'd learned it got to 2,500ft and just missed a PA-28!

Thanks for reading, and if I've managed to see something like this after having only 60 hours in my log book I can well imagine there's plenty of pilots on here who can top that, so please share. Anything from sightings, illusions, strange things heard over the radio, anything.




Mr Rodge.

[Halfbaked_Boy]

I saw a bottle of Jack Daniels sat on top of a cloud once, about three miles away. We flew to it. Our suspicions were confirmed.

No lie.

[dont overfil]

And there was me thinking scirrosis was a type of cloud.
DO.

[Fake Sealion]

Leaving aside the UFO near miss :eek: its good that you had the confidence to undertake a fairly longish trip like this with apparently few post PPL hours under your belt.:ok:

[liam548]

sorry to digress Mr Rodge but that sounds like a great trip. I was considering a similar route recently but into Norwich after flying over the wash.

Would you suggest I try Beccles instead?

Liam

[Lister Noble]

Beccles now do parachuting,best to just check what is happening.
Lister:)

[mr_rodge]

Liam,

Was a great trip but the destination airfield depends on what you're looking for. Beccles was a nice, very quiet little A/G setup, very friendly, great to watch the parachuting (when you ring them before taking to the air they tell you what to listen out for, we didn't have to orbit or anything as the divers were just waiting to take off as we landed) and a short taxi ride into Beccles where there's a nice hotel on the river for a bite to eat (we decided on Beccles as we were on a boating holiday around there a few weeks ago and thought it'd be good to go back). Seething had some sort of event on as Norwich were warning people that they weren't taking any more planes and on the way back we got a nice view of someone doing some aeros over there.

But it depends whether you're in the mood for big airport or little field I guess, and I can't comment on Norwich as I've never been!

Anyway, more unusualness is welcome!

[jxc]

There is a nice little airstrip right on the top (north) Norfolk
Weybourne land and maybe all of 30m walk to the beach and when you take off to head home just to the west of strip is blakeney point marked on chart and is always full of seals

blakeney point - Google Search (http://www.google.co.uk/images?hl=en&expIds=25657,25900,26446,26518&xhr=t&q=blakeney+point&cp=11&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=Ks2PTOfcNIjg4Aaz2qSLDg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&sqi=2&ved=0CDgQsAQwAw&biw=1366&bih=641)

[mr_rodge]

Has nobody got anything strange to report?!

[forget]

Me and three passengers went on a jolly from Full Sutton to Beccles on Sunday for a bite to eat and a look at the boats. ........ Somewhere between Mabelthorpe and Skegness I saw a black dot directly in front at a similar level (2,500ft), which wasn't moving.

You need help mr rodge. It's 'my passengers and I ......'

[Pace]

Has nobody got anything strange to report?!

When I started flying on my solo cross country many moons ago a distant object came into view. It grew larger and larger and was saucer shaped.

It was as large as a small village. As I approached a section opened and I could see luminous blue guide lights to a landing area inside the vessel.

I set up an approach and landed within the ship. All these little green men wearing yelllow jackets ran up demanding why I had not PPRd.

They then took me too an office for payment of landing fees which they wanted in the Stellar (their local currency). Luckely I gave them the address of my flying club and the aircraft reg so they appeared happy to bill the club at a later date.

I was then taken for refreshments and given this luminous green drink. There were some young green men there and we chatted about my long cross country.

As It appeared they too were training galactic pilots. Their cross country involved a few billion miles between turning points..................

They then sent me back to my aircraft which was being zapped by a guy with more blue light.
He said he was an engineer and had just rebuilt my C152 to as good as new condition with a zero life engine. At least the club would be pleased as she was about 25 years old and knackered.

Dont know how I would explain the shiny new paint job with GALACTICA on the sides to the flying club when I landed back but hey ho they cant moan :(.....................

Then I woke up it was morning and I had my solo long cross country ahead.:}

Pace

[BackPacker]

Not seen myself but it's probably worth a mention...


http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh193/ZoSo42084/cumulophallus.jpg

Cumulophallus

[chevvron]

I was asked to invstigate one in this area years ago.
Norwich Airport mid 80s. Tower had an aircaft doing circuits on runway 04. Senior controller wanders into tower, looks out the window and says 'hey he's on final for 27 not 04'. Tower controller knows where his traffic really is, looks out on final for 27 and sees a small bright light like a landing light; a look through binocular reveals a silvery ball shape with no surface detail; the pair watch as it descends to the threshold then shoots off vertically!
Not the usual behaviour of a small balloon of course; they phoned nearby Coltishall but they had seen nothing unusual on radar so they reported it to the British UFO Research Association (BUFORA) of which I was a member (still am come to think of it) and one of their foremost researchers (Jenny Randles) passed it to me for my opinion.

[Fake Sealion]

........AND?

[Jan Olieslagers]

Has nobody got anything strange to report?!

My first solo landing is still remembered as an absolute miracle - not only by myself.

[chevvron]

AND?
I suggested that Norwich ATC file a report for 'unauthorised penetration of their ATZ', thinking that this would provoke an official investigation, but both ATC personnel refused to put anything in writing 'in case it was treated as an AIRPROX' (don't see how that could happen but I wasn't there) so my investigation stalled at this point.
I did however, report it to MOD but I received no feedback.(You never do)

[liam548]

There was a link on youtube but cant find it now, of some strange UFO sightings over the wash in the late 80s. Radar controllers even picked it up..

[richs3]

I too was amazed to witness a balloon at 3000 foot above Llandudno a few weeks back now, scared the hell out of me. I have since read that these things can travel up to some very high altitudes.

[Dan Dare]

You people scared of balloons! Have you been watching too much "The Prisoner"?
http://www.portmeirion-village.com/uploads/ImageRoot/images/113.jpg

Balloons are great fun for a dog-fight. Sadly I usually lose.

Cargo ships - now there's something to worry about when you're at 3000 ft. I was VMCish, but with showers all about and a a big black shaddow loomed out of the clouds. I took immediate avoiding action, only to wet myself laughing when I realised it was a cargo ship miles away.

[Captain Smithy]

I had a "what the hell's that?" moment a few months ago. Flying at about 1900' in the local area when I saw a small red shape rapidly coming towards me. Was about to turn tight to avoid; realised as it drifted towards me it was a small red party balloon... :ugh:

"99 Red Balloons" was still playing in my head long after I'd touched down...

Smithy

[chevvron]

Some of the reports passed to me were easily explained. F'rinstance, it the weather was slightly hazy at low level with a bright blue sky above and it was late afternoon, I used to get reports of 'silvery cigar shaped objects' which were invariably airliners at about 7 - 12 thousand feet; the haze would obscure detail such as wings and engines while the lowering sun would reflect off the fuselage giving the 'silvery cigar shape'.

[Captain Smithy]

I take the view that everything has an explanation. UFOs are oft misidentified aircraft. Weird lights in the night sky are daft lantern thingies, satelites, aircraft lights or some prat mucking about with lasers. Stuff that appears on a Radar PPI moving at Mach 5 at some Godly altitude probably means the Radar Reciever is fecked...

That said I am yet to find any reasonable explanation or comprehension for EASA. Definately Extra-Terrestrial goings on there I think :hmm:

Smithy

[Footless Halls]

I have seen children's balloons in the air but only from above and laterally where it is obvious what they are.

I had a strange 'UFO', or pehaps 'MFO' (misidentified flying object) encounter a few years ago. Returning from the welsh border and heading south east I was approaching the Malvern hill from the west. Around 3,000'. From a couple of miles out I saw an aircraft approaching and obviously kept an eye on it for collision risk. Getting closer the 'spotter' in me attempted to identify the type but without success. From quite some way off its absence of a tail engaged my curiosity. It was the distance from which I noted its absence of tail and fuselage that puzzled me.

While I was still some way off I realised it was a bird. As we drew parallel on our reciprocal courses and I drew level with it and realised it was something very much bigger than a buzzard - of which I have seen many in the air. Of course this sounds like fishermans' tales, but I am absolutely certain it was some sort of eagle - Sea Eagle or Golden Eagle. There had been a strong and persistently westerly airflow which I am sure would permit an aviator of such skill to soar south if he / she wanted to from Scotland.

[digits_]

When flying on the border of EBAW CTR at 1000 ft, there was a small radiocontrolled airplane very close flying some kind of loop from overhad the engine cowling to the left wing. Looked quite dangerous, I wonder how the pilot could keep track of it at that altitude to fly so close to a "big" small airplane... :eek::confused: