5 times pilots saw UFOs in the cockpit

Want a profession where people don’t jump to conclusions? As far as we’re concerned here at BLAZE, aviation ticks all the boxes. Pilots are all about cold, hard, sensible facts. Which is exactly why cockpit UFO reports are so darn sticky.

When trained pilots say something was there, it’s not just another famous UFO sighting. You have to take the report seriously.

Curious about what exactly has been seen? Here are five of the most notable “we saw something” moments from the cockpit.

1. The Channel Islands “yellow objects” (2007)

On 23 April 2007, Aurigny pilot Captain Ray Bowyer was flying towards Alderney in the English Channel when he spotted a bright, yellow-gold object with shimmering edges. He filed an official report with the British Civil Aviation Authority and said it was clearly visible for around nine minutes, and approximately the size of a Boeing 737.

What makes this one interesting is the “two cockpits” detail. Another pilot flying across the English Channel reported a similar experience. Two of Bowyer’s passengers also backed him up.

As for explanations… the more sober write-ups circle around atmospheric optics (think odd refractions and “sun dog” territory). Paired with the explanation that geometry and distance estimates get slippery over open water. Atmospheric phenomenon or not, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) was quick to confirm that it would not investigate the reported sighting as the incident had taken place in French airspace. Unsurprisingly, a single neat answer that satisfies everyone has never materialised.

2. RAF Tornados overtaken by UFO (1990)

On 5 November 1990, crews in six RAF Tornado jets reported being overtaken by a “giant UFO” during an exercise over Germany. The pilots even wondered if they’d stumbled across something top-secret. Specifically, a stealth aircraft test.

Later, though, the story deflated in the most Earthly way possible. It emerged they’d likely seen burning debris from a Soviet rocket body re-entering the atmosphere. Some people accept this explanation. Others maintain it’s a blatant UFO coverup.

3. The RAF Manston intercept order (1957)

In May 1957, RAF pilot Milton Torres (flying a de Havilland Venom) said he was scrambled on an intercept. He was told to arm his weapons and prepare to fire at an unknown target his ground controller described as “very large” on radar.

“The order came to fire a salvo of rockets at the UFO. The authentication was valid and I selected 24 rockets.”

At the last minute the target vanished before he could engage.

His story is one of many defence ministry UFO sighting reports released at the National Archives in London (similar to what happened after previously top-secret UFO files were made public by the US Freedom of Information Act)

What makes this one a little suspicious is the fact that Torres was ordered to never talk about the incident.

4. Japan Airlines Flight 1628 over Alaska (1986)

On 17 November 1986, the crew of Japan Air Lines cargo Flight 1628 reported seeing unusual lights while flying over Alaska. Captain Kenju Terauchi described something enormous relative to his Boeing 747.

FAA documents from the period note that later reviews of data identified what they called “uncorrelated” radar returns. Basically, signals that don’t cleanly match a tracked aircraft target.

The final verdict? There isn’t one. There are credible witnesses saying they saw something. There are also messy instrumentation reports that suggests something unusualhappened on scope, but not enough clean data to pin down exactly what.

5. The USS Nimitz “Tic Tac” encounter (2004)

In November 2004, US Navy pilots from the carrier strike group centred on USS Nimitz reported encountering an object described as white, wingless and unusually shaped (hence the nickname “Tic Tac”) during training off the coast of California. Despite having no visible flight surfaces or propulsion method, the Tic Tac could accelerate rapidly, stop suddenly, change direction instantaneously and pull off physics-defying maneuvers that had the crew scratching their heads.

Years later, the U.S. Department of Defense formally released three Navy videos and stated that the aerial phenomena in them remain “unidentified.”

Official reports never reached a definitive conclusion. So, at the end of the day it’s still a bit of a Rorschach test. To some, it’s proof of extraterrestrial activity. To others, it’s just another example that some things just can’t be explained.