Pilot’s Encounter
with a UFO at Alderney
Date: April 23, 2007
Location: Alderney, British Crown Dependency
Ray Bowyer, an experienced pilot with over eighteen years of experience and over seven thousand flight hours, used to fly a Trislander aircraft from Southampton to Alderney on a daily basis. For over eight years, Bowyer had been flying the forty-five-minute flight without any problems; however, on April 23, 2007, Bowyer witnessed an aircraft in the sky that most definitely was not terrestrial.
“On April 23, 2007, my passengers and I witnessed multiple, as yet unidentified, objects over these islands while crossing the English Channel. They were very, very large. They were picked up on radar in two locations and one was witnessed by another pilot from a totally different vantage point.” 63
The flight took off from Southampton, England, at 14:00; the visibility was clear, and the weather conditions were ideal for a flight. Once the aircraft reached an altitude of four thousand feet, Bowyer put it on autopilot so that he could carry out the necessary paperwork and also keep a look out for any other nearby aircraft. As Bowyer and his passengers were flying ten miles south of the Isle of Wight, his attention was caught by a bright yellow light. At first Bowyer did not think too much into the sighting; he had assumed that it must have been an airplane or a reflection from the ground. A minute or so had passed and the bright light remained in the sky. Bowyer figured that if the light had been a reflection, as he had originally thought, then it would have disappeared by then.
Trying to identify what this source of light was, Bowyer grabbed his binoculars and noticed that this was not an airplane nor a reflection in the sky. The thin and elongated cigar-shaped object remains a vivid memory for Bowyer. The unidentified aircraft came to a point at both of its ends. It was then that he realized he was sharing the sky with an extraordinary object. Bowyer wasted no time; he immediately contacted the Jersey Air Traffic Control Centre to get any information available on the object. Paul Kelly, the operator who responded to Bowyer’s call, confirmed that there were no identifiable aircraft close to his airspace. However, Kelly also informed Bowyer that he had located the target on his radar, and had also picked up a primary return signal.
Now that Bowyer had confirmed that the cigar shaped object was truly present in the sky, he could only hope that it would not interfere with the flight. Shortly thereafter, one of the passengers on board the aircraft noticed a second object in the sky, completely identical to the first one. The passenger informed Bowyer that a second cigar-shaped object was just beyond the first one. It had the same shape, color, and size.
As the second object came into view, Kelly contacted Bowyer, informing him that another pilot had seen the cigar shaped object in the sky from his cockpit windows. Patrick Patterson, a pilot flying a Blue Island airways plane, was forty kilometers from Bowyer’s aircraft, and he too had seen the two anomalous aircraft in the sky. Patterson had described the objects to Kelly as being extremely bright, elongated, and thin.
Bowyer tried to get as close as possible to the two cigar-shaped objects. As a matter of fact, he had exceeded the point at which he was supposed to start his descent for landing, and at the closest range possible, the two UFOs were lined up one above the other. Unable to delay the descent any longer, Bowyer started the descent for landing. It was at this point that he and his passengers had seen the two UFOs for the last time. Commenting on what he thought the aircraft were, Bowyer stated the following: “If it was designed by an engineer, that man has to be shaken by the hand because it was a fantastic piece of equipment, if that is what it was. I can’t really say much further than to say what I’ve said all along, that this thing is not from around here.” 64
Communication with Air Traffic Control
The following is the full conversation between Bowyer (R.B.) Kelly (P.K.) and Patrick Patterson (P.P.): 65
14:09, R.B.: Do you have any traffic, ah, can’t really say how far, but at my 12 o’clock level?
14:09, P.K.: No traffic at all in your 12 o’clock
14:09, R.B.: I’ve got a very bright object, well, I couldn’t say how far. Extremely bright, yellow, orange object straight ahead. Very flat platform. Looking at it through my binoculars as we speak. Any more information on that aircraft please?
14:10, P.K.: Five-four-four. Negative. Nothing at all in your 12 o’clock for the next 40 miles or so.
14:12, P.K.: Airline five-four-four, Roger. I do have, uh, primary contact now. A very faint primary contact just to the left across your 11 o’clock at this time at a range of about four track miles.
14:13, R.B.: Roger. I’ve got a definite contact at my 12 o’clock. A very bright yellow object, looking, well like a cigar.
14:14, R.B.: Looking through my binoculars as I am now. There is a second one just appeared behind the first one from where I am. Roger five-four-four. Just confirming that all the passengers can see this … aircraft. ah, I’ve got the island visual. It’s dead ahead, can’t say how far, probably five miles but it’s staying the same size. Looks to be off the North, North-West coast of Alderney
14:14, P.K.: Roger, I do have a primary contact. Just one blob if you like, uh 8 miles or so to the west of Alderney
14:14, P.P.: Jersey eight-three-two. Zone asked us to look if we could see an object, which is being seen by A-line at the moment. We have got something at 8 o’clock resembling the description
14:15, R.B.: The second one appears to be beyond the first from where I am. It is exactly the same, it’s got a gap. It is a cylindrical object, very bright yellow and there is a gap in the light about two-thirds the way along it.
14:15, P.K.: Airline five-four-four, Roger. Would you like to descend?
14:16, R.B.: Please. I better go down
14:16, R.B.: 2 thousand feet, 1021. It’s very plain to see from where I am now without any binoculars.
Conclusion
On November 12, 2007, Bowyer addressed the US National Press Club about his sighting. In his speech, Bowyer expressed his disappointment at how the Chicago airport sightings, which took place the previous year, were handled. He urged the authorities to take UFO sightings more seriously, and appealed for any crew members to make reports if they were to see a UFO.
“I heard about the multiple witness sightings at Chicago O’Hare Airport, about a year ago now, on November 7, 2006. I was surprised to hear how it was handled. Despite many pilots and airport personnel witnessing the object hovering over the terminal, there was no investigation at all by the FAA. It appears as if pressure may have been applied to crew members by their company not to discuss this incident. I would have been shocked if I was told that the CAA in the UK would obstruct an investigation, or if the CAA told me that what I had seen was something entirely different. But it seems as if pilots in America are used to this sort of thing here.
“I would urge all fellow aircrew to report whatever they see as soon as possible and to stand up and be counted. It is only when crucial and critical witnesses such as air crew make reports that the authorities will be kick-started into a broader investigation of [these] phenomena. Thank you very much.” 66
63. Leslie Kean, UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go On the Record. (New York: Three Rivers Press, 210), 74.
64. Britain’s Closest Encounters, episode 4, “Aldernay Lights,” directed by Nigel Levy, aired July 30, 2008, on Channel 5 in the UK.
65. Jean-Francois Baure, David Clark, Paul Puller, Martin Shough, “Unusual Atmospheric Phenomena Observed Near Channel Islands, UK, 23 April 2007,” Journal of Scientific Exploration 22, no.3 (2008): 293–294.
66. Ray Bowyer’s speech at the National Press Club, November 12, 2007.