Manises UFO Incident
Encyclopedia
The Manises UFO incident took place on 11 November 1979, forcing a commercial flight to make an emergency landing at the
Manises
' airport in Valencia, Spain
.
was the first aircraft involved in the incident. Flight JK-297 had taken off from Salzburg
(Austria
) with 109 passengers on board, and had made a refuelling stop in Majorca before setting course towards Las Palmas
.
Halfway through the flight, at about 23:00h, Pilot Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada and his crew noticed a set of red lights that were fast approaching the aircraft. These lights appeared to be on a collision course with the aircraft, alarming the crew. The captain requested information about the inexplicable lights, but neither the military radar of Torrejón de Ardoz
(Madrid
) nor the flight control center in Barcelona
could provide any explanation for this phenomenon.
In order to avoid a possible collision, the captain changed altitude. However, the lights mirrored the new course and stayed about half a kilometer away from the plane. Since the object was violating all elementary safety rules and an evasive maneuver was deemed impossible by the crew, the captain decided on going off-course and made an emergency landing in Manises' airport. This was the first time in history in which a commercial flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of a UFO.
The flight crew reported the lights abandoning the pursuit just before the landing took place. However, three new UFO signals were detected by the radar, each one with an estimated diameter of 200 meters. The objects were seen by several witnesses. One of the UFOs passed very close to the airport runway, and emergency lights were lit by the land crew in case the object happened to be an unregistered flight experiencing difficulties.
Given the lack of answer to all communication attempts, a Mirage F-1 took off from the nearby airbase of Los Llanos (Albacete) to identify the phenomenon. The pilot, Spanish Air Force captain Fernando Cámara, had to increase his speed to mach 1.4 just to be able to get visual contact with what he perceived to be a truncated cone shape displaying a changing bright color, but despite his initial efforts the object quickly disappeared from sight. The pilot was informed of a new radar echo, which indicated that another object might be near Sagunto (Valencia).
When the pilot was close enough, the object accelerated and disappeared again. This time, though, the UFO seemed to respond and the fighter had its avionics scrambled -its electronic flight systems were jammed. At last, and after a third contact attempt, the UFO finally disappeared, heading for Africa. After an hour and a half of pursuit, and due to fuel shortage, the pilot was forced to return to the base with no results.
The full official report, declassified by the Spanish Airforce on August 1994, states that the Supercaravelle JK-297 pilot Javier Lerdo de Tejada, the land crew in Manises' airport and the Air Force Captain Fernando Cámara might had been misled by "flashes emitted from a distant chemical industry complex" (about 100 miles away from Manises) "and some stars and planets". Although this possibility has been much argued and repeatedly rejected by all people involved it stands as the only non-UFO-related explanation.
The on-flight difficulties experienced by the fighter were not mentioned in the public release. The electronic system failure on board the Mirage F-1 could nevertheless be explained by the fact that the U.S. Navy Sixth Fleet was stationed in the area, and was making use of a powerful electronic warfare equipment while awaiting the outcome of the Iran hostage crisis. The F-1 combat pilot, Fernando Cámara, denied such possibility saying that the Sixth Fleet was too far and furthermore his systems got jammed when he tried to block the UFO with an IR missile.
Since in the late seventies all UFO phenomenons were promptly published by mass media and readily consumed by the public, it has been argued that the flight crew might have been influenced into believing that they were experiencing a UFO sighting instead of just witnessing an optical phenomenon, and had therefore been readier to consider, and finally undertake, such an extreme maneuver as an emergency landing.
Manises
Manises
Manises is a municipality in the comarca of Horta Oest in the Valencian Community, Spain. Located in the province of Valencia, it had 30,508 inhabitants in 2009 and is famous for its pottery and house in the municipality the Valencia Airport....
' airport in Valencia, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
.
Incident Details
A TAE's (former airline) SupercaravelleSud Aviation Caravelle
The Sud Aviation SE 210 Caravelle was the first short/medium-range jet airliner produced by the French Sud Aviation firm starting in 1955 . The Caravelle was one of the more successful European first generation jetliners, selling throughout Europe and even penetrating the United States market, with...
was the first aircraft involved in the incident. Flight JK-297 had taken off from Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
(Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
) with 109 passengers on board, and had made a refuelling stop in Majorca before setting course towards Las Palmas
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
Las Palmas de Gran Canaria commonly known as Las Palmas is the political capital, jointly with Santa Cruz, the most populous city in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands and the ninth largest city in Spain, with a population of 383,308 in 2010. Nearly half of the people of the island...
.
Halfway through the flight, at about 23:00h, Pilot Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada and his crew noticed a set of red lights that were fast approaching the aircraft. These lights appeared to be on a collision course with the aircraft, alarming the crew. The captain requested information about the inexplicable lights, but neither the military radar of Torrejón de Ardoz
Torrejón de Ardoz
Torrejón de Ardoz is a town in the urban area of Madrid, Spain that has about 110,000 inhabitants.It is a town 20 km east of Madrid on the NII highway . It is essentially a dormitory town, mostly consisting of apartments. It can be reached by bus from Av...
(Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
) nor the flight control center in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
could provide any explanation for this phenomenon.
In order to avoid a possible collision, the captain changed altitude. However, the lights mirrored the new course and stayed about half a kilometer away from the plane. Since the object was violating all elementary safety rules and an evasive maneuver was deemed impossible by the crew, the captain decided on going off-course and made an emergency landing in Manises' airport. This was the first time in history in which a commercial flight was forced to make an emergency landing because of a UFO.
The flight crew reported the lights abandoning the pursuit just before the landing took place. However, three new UFO signals were detected by the radar, each one with an estimated diameter of 200 meters. The objects were seen by several witnesses. One of the UFOs passed very close to the airport runway, and emergency lights were lit by the land crew in case the object happened to be an unregistered flight experiencing difficulties.
Given the lack of answer to all communication attempts, a Mirage F-1 took off from the nearby airbase of Los Llanos (Albacete) to identify the phenomenon. The pilot, Spanish Air Force captain Fernando Cámara, had to increase his speed to mach 1.4 just to be able to get visual contact with what he perceived to be a truncated cone shape displaying a changing bright color, but despite his initial efforts the object quickly disappeared from sight. The pilot was informed of a new radar echo, which indicated that another object might be near Sagunto (Valencia).
When the pilot was close enough, the object accelerated and disappeared again. This time, though, the UFO seemed to respond and the fighter had its avionics scrambled -its electronic flight systems were jammed. At last, and after a third contact attempt, the UFO finally disappeared, heading for Africa. After an hour and a half of pursuit, and due to fuel shortage, the pilot was forced to return to the base with no results.
Possible Explanations
The public impact of the incident was such that on September 1980 it reached the Spanish Parliament. The High Chamber representative Enrique Múgica publicly asked for an official explanation, but a UFO sighting was dismissed and the incident was attributed to a series of freak optical illusions.The full official report, declassified by the Spanish Airforce on August 1994, states that the Supercaravelle JK-297 pilot Javier Lerdo de Tejada, the land crew in Manises' airport and the Air Force Captain Fernando Cámara might had been misled by "flashes emitted from a distant chemical industry complex" (about 100 miles away from Manises) "and some stars and planets". Although this possibility has been much argued and repeatedly rejected by all people involved it stands as the only non-UFO-related explanation.
The on-flight difficulties experienced by the fighter were not mentioned in the public release. The electronic system failure on board the Mirage F-1 could nevertheless be explained by the fact that the U.S. Navy Sixth Fleet was stationed in the area, and was making use of a powerful electronic warfare equipment while awaiting the outcome of the Iran hostage crisis. The F-1 combat pilot, Fernando Cámara, denied such possibility saying that the Sixth Fleet was too far and furthermore his systems got jammed when he tried to block the UFO with an IR missile.
Since in the late seventies all UFO phenomenons were promptly published by mass media and readily consumed by the public, it has been argued that the flight crew might have been influenced into believing that they were experiencing a UFO sighting instead of just witnessing an optical phenomenon, and had therefore been readier to consider, and finally undertake, such an extreme maneuver as an emergency landing.