The Kilimanjaro 'cigar' seen from an airliner
On 19 February 1951 Captain Jack Bicknell and passengers on an East African Airways Lodestar flying from Nairobi to Mombasa watched a bright, bullet-shaped metallic object near Mount Kilimanjaro for about 17 minutes.
1951 CE · -3.07, 37.45 · status: disputed
The account
They described something over 200 feet long, with a vertical fin and dark bands, that hung motionless and then rose and shot away east without a trail. The Nairobi Sunday Post and London Sunday Dispatch reported it, and a US consulate dispatch from Dar es Salaam reached Project Blue Book, which filed it as 'insufficient data'.
The sceptical view
Suggestions included a high-altitude research balloon, a mirage and a reflection of another aircraft; one researcher points to an Air France Constellation in the area, though it does not fit the reported hovering.
The researched reading
An airline crew and passengers watched a silver cigar near Kilimanjaro. A balloon, aircraft or mirage could explain it, but none fits perfectly, so the case remains partly open.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 35% | A high-altitude balloon reflecting sunlight, or an Air France Constellation seen from behind (its triple tail resembling bands), could appear as a silver cigar; mirage and distance make hovering and sudden departure plausible. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 30% | A crew and nine passengers watched a metallic object for many minutes, and none of the proposed explanations fits both the hovering and the rapid departure; photos were reportedly blank or lost. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 15% | Superior mirage or reflection off the mountain’s snow and ice can create a bright, stationary object that seems to shoot away as conditions change. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 8% | Estimates of size and speed for an unfamiliar object at unknown distance are unreliable. |
| Secret human technology | 5% | Secret aircraft or rockets in East Africa in 1951 are unlikely. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 4% | A rare optical effect over the mountain could create a structured image. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 3% | Crew and passengers signed an affidavit; invention is unlikely. |
Official position: Project Blue Book filed it as insufficient data.