Aurigny pilot's sighting off Alderney
On the afternoon of 23 April 2007 Captain Ray Bowyer, flying an Aurigny Trislander to Alderney, saw two bright yellow, cigar-shaped objects with dark bands, apparently miles long; a second pilot saw one too.
2007 CE · 49.70, -2.30 · status: unexplained
The account
Bowyer reported the sighting to air traffic control in Jersey, which said radar showed returns in the area. Passengers also saw the objects. The case was studied in a 2008 independent report.
The sceptical view
Suggested explanations include a lenticular cloud, sunlight on haze over the sea (a mirage) or a rare atmospheric effect linked to an earthquake; none is proven.
The researched reading
A well-witnessed daylight sighting by two airline crews. Sun dogs or a mirage explain much of it, but not all, and it remains one of the stronger unresolved British cases.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| A known natural phenomenon | 36% | The objects hung in the same direction for nine minutes in afternoon haze; astronomer Michael Maunder noted they were about 22° from the Sun, where sun dogs form, and a superior mirage over the sea is also possible. Distant stationary optical effects fit the shape and the lack of motion. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 24% | Two crews in different aircraft saw something in the same place, and the faint primary radar returns were never resolved; the optical explanations fit some but not all details. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 18% | The independent study by Clarke, Baure, Fuller and Shough treated it as an unusual atmospheric phenomenon; an earthquake-light idea was raised but the nearest quake was in Kent five days later. |
| Something known, misidentified | 10% | Ships and their reflections in haze have been suggested; at the distances estimated, no known aircraft fits objects reported as miles long. |
| Secret human technology | 6% | No secret craft is known that hovers for minutes and appears miles long. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 5% | Two pilots and passengers saw it independently, so simple misperception is limited, though size estimates of distant objects are unreliable. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 1% | Reported live to air traffic control by two airline pilots. |
Official position: The Ministry of Defence declined to investigate (it occurred in French airspace); the controller considered the faint radar return meteorological.