Case file · Official inquiry
Naysa flight radar-visual case
On 22 May 1980 the captain of a Naysa flight saw an object while radar at Canarias Control tracked an echo moving at about 600 km/h.
1980 CE · 28.45, -15.40 · status: unexplained
The researched reading
A pilot sighting paired with a radar echo moving at airliner speed. Another aircraft, Venus, or a spurious echo is likely, though the file is too thin to be sure.
| Explanation | Weight | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Something known, misidentified | 40% | A captain saw a "brilliant" object while approach radar tracked an echo at about 600 km/h, a speed typical of an airliner; another aircraft, or Venus, which was near its greatest brilliance in the evening sky in May 1980, could explain the sight, with the echo a separate aircraft. |
| Genuinely anomalous | 21% | A radar–visual report has more weight than a lone sighting, but the declassified summary gives too little to rule out ordinary traffic. |
| Secret human technology | 18% | Military aircraft operated from Gando and around the Canaries, often without coordinating with civil control. |
| A known natural phenomenon | 8% | Anomalous propagation over the ocean can produce moving false echoes on approach radar. |
| Perception, memory or mind | 5% | A single crew report; details are scant. |
| Undetermined | 4% | The share a generic explanation had beyond what has been shown for this case: it fits many cases like this one, but has not been demonstrated for this one. |
| A poorly understood natural phenomenon | 3% | Nothing in the summary suggests a natural luminous phenomenon. |
| A hoax or fabrication | 1% | An official Air Force file. |
Official position: The Spanish Air Force file records the case; no explanation was published.