1st November 2015 – Birmingham – Flying Triangle Sighting

Birmingham UFO Group Case Report

Author: Dave Hodrien

Release Year: 2015

Last Updated: 16/06/2025

Note: For reasons of anonymity pseudonyms have been used for some witnesses

Sighting Details

On the evening of Sunday 1st November 2015 Dan went out with his son “Lewis”. Later on after returning home they met with his wife “Sandra”, and the three of them decided to go out into the back garden to sit down and star gaze.

Dan and Sandra were looking up at stars to the South of their location. Suddenly they saw a fantastic bright light with sparks flying off it. They assumed it was a meteorite so did not bother mentioning it to Lewis.

The three of them sat there a while, when suddenly Lewis loudly exclaimed “Dad! Dad! Dad!” Dan looked up to where Lewis was staring. Heading across the sky above them on a straight flight path was a triangular-shaped object. It had a bright white light at each corner, but no other lights.

Mock up based on witness description

 There was no audible sound coming from it. Dan estimates it was flying at around 2000 feet up and was quite large in size, about the size of a large aeroplane, but it was hard to accurately say for sure. Lewis felt that it was larger than this.

Dan was startled by what he was looking at. He was aware of Flying Triangles and believed this to be one. He had always had a belief in the UFO subject, and he now felt vindicated. The UFO was travelling on a North Westerly course. After a number of seconds the lights on the corners of the object appeared dimmer than they had done initially. In total it was observed for 7 seconds before moving out of sight.

Sighting Analysis

Unfortunately I only have the initial details provided by Dan over the phone to go on, so no further details are known, including the precise location, time or weather conditions. However as the stars were out we can assume it was a clear night.

The object seen does not sound like a normal aircraft. Although it did not perform any advanced manoeuvres, and the lack of sound could have been down to the altitude it was at, standard navigation lights seen on aeroplanes and helicopters after dark include red, green and flashing white/red strobes, as indicated by the below diagram:

None of these were visible to the witnesses, only a white light at each of the three corners. Even if viewed at a side perspective at least one red or green light would still be visible, and it appears from the description that it flew overhead, so both colours should have been observed.

A triangular shaped novelty hot air balloon can also be discounted. First of all this would not have been lit at the corners, and secondly hot air balloon pilots are legally required to hang a flashing strobe light below the basket after dark to warn other air traffic, which would have clearly been visible.

The sighting occurred before drones were commercially available, and it sounds much too large to have been a radio controlled model.

From the details provided the witnesses certainly viewed it as a singular object rather than 3 smaller lit objects flying in a triangular formation. This would certainly fit with other reports of Flying Triangles, one of the more commonly observed types of UFO/UAP. I have investigated many other cases of very similar objects to what was seen.

Copyright Dave Hodrien 2025