Birmingham UFO Group Case Report
Author: Dave Hodrien
Release Date: 14/08/2012
On the evening of Saturday 28th July 2012, BUFOG organised a UFO sky watch at Cannock Chase. It was a great evening (click here for the official review). While no UFOs were seen while on the watch, two of the attendees Dave and Rob did see something unusual while on their way back home!
Sighting Details
It was around 1.30am when the witnesses stopped for a cigarette roughly a mile and a half away from Dave’s house. They parked at the edge of the A34 by the entrance to the Monkey Forest Park on the Trentham Estate. The weather was relatively clear and still, with only partial cloud cover.
Aerial map of the sighting location:
As they were looking into the sky, they suddenly noticed a bright white light appear to the North. The light appeared to be a couple of miles from their position. It stayed lit for several seconds and then gradually started to fade in brightness. But just before it disappeared a second white light appeared very quickly to the left of it, then both lights vanished. Both the witnesses saw the lights, and because of what they had attended earlier were quite spooked by what they had seen.
Photograph of the sighting location after dark with the lights drawn on top:
Daylight photograph of the sighting location again with lights drawn on top. From this picture it is clear to see the distance between the lights:
About two minutes later an aeroplane appeared above them out of the clouds. It is not out of the question that this could have been responsible for the lights seen, however the lights had not appeared to be moving in their direction. Also they had appeared too far spaced apart to have both been due to the plane. Whether this was the explanation for the lights, it was still exciting to have seen something.
Sighting Analysis
Even though the aeroplane could have been the cause of the lights, this is still an interesting sighting. Usually when viewing aircraft after dark it is possible to see other navigation lights such as red and blue, and the flashing strobes at the wing tips. That said, sometimes at a distance these other lights can get masked. Also when a plane is travelling in your direction it sometimes appears that it is hovering completely still until it gets closer and the angle starts to change. As there was partial cloud cover, the plane could have gone behind the cloud, causing the visible lights to vanish.
That said, in looking at the photographs with lights drawn on top provided by Dave, it is clear that they were too far spaced apart to have both been caused by the plane. Even if one of the lights was on each wingtip, the plane would still have had to have been quite close to their position, at which point it would have clearly been seen. Therefore, while the plane could explain one of the lights, it cannot really explain both.
While this may have been the explanation for what was seen, there are still some mysterious aspects to this incident. It’s great that Dave and Rob managed to see something unidentified on the night of the UFO sky watch!
Copyright Dave Hodrien 2012
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