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The UFO Phenomenon

New Zealand's Kaikoura lights mystery turns 40

By T.K. Randall
December 31, 2018 · Comment icon 9 comments

What did the aircraft crews encounter over New Zealand in December 1978 ? Image Credit: PD - Doomych
Four decades ago, multiple UFO sightings were reported over the Kaikoura mountains on South Island.
The peculiar spate of sightings began on December 21st when the crew of a Safe Air Ltd cargo aircraft reported that a number of strange lights had been following their plane for several minutes.

The UFOs, which seemed to surround the aircraft, disappeared and reappeared multiple times. They were picked up on radar, both by the plane itself and by air traffic control in Wellington.

Nine days later, an Australian film crew who had been recording background footage for a documentary also observed strange lights during a routine flight to Christchurch.

The objects were again tracked by Wellington Air Traffic Controllers and were witnessed by multiple members of the flight crew. The filmmakers even managed to capture footage of the phenomenon.
According to reports, one of the objects actually followed the plane for almost the entire trip.

After landing, the plane took off again towards Blenheim and shortly afterwards encountered a huge "orb" at around 2,000ft. It followed the plane for 15 minutes while being directly observed, filmed and tracked on radar by multiple witnesses.

Much to the dismay of all those involved however, a later investigation in to the phenomenon by the police, the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Carter Observatory in Wellington concluded that the mystery lights had been little more than "cars", "squid boats" and "the planet Venus."

Old documentary footage showing what the film crew recorded that night can be viewed below.



Source: New Zealand Herald | Comments (9)




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Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #1 Posted by pallidin 6 years ago
Hmmm... good one.
Comment icon #2 Posted by Dejarma 6 years ago
I remember when this hit the headlines; at the age of 20 at the time I thought: 'could be anything' I look at it now & still think: 'could be anything' I guess rehashing 40 year old cases is all one can do seeing there's nothing new worth talking about. Oh well= hope springs eternal 
Comment icon #3 Posted by Timonthy 6 years ago
That’s some pretty compelling footage. Looks like a pretty early Potato-Cam iteration, most likely pre Potato Cam v1.3.
Comment icon #4 Posted by ChrLzs 6 years ago
While this case has some interesting aspects, there's is one particularly damning aspect, and that is that film which was *supposedly* taken by a highly experienced cameraman. There are two (well, OK, sorta three) important and highly relevant things that EVERY experienced cameraman knows: 1. cameras need to be held very, very still or the objects in scene will wiggle around a lot in the frame, potentially at quite high angular speeds.  (We might come back to that word 'angular' later, as it is vitally important in this case...) 1.a. Also, if there is no background information contained in a... [More]
Comment icon #5 Posted by L.A.T.1961 5 years ago
"The most important thing I think about his story is that even to this day, the flight crew and the air traffic controllers are adamant that we saw something highly unusual that can't be explained in mundane terms," says journalist Quentin Fogarty.  "Now, 30 years later, they still believe that."  
Comment icon #6 Posted by Earl.Of.Trumps 5 years ago
I like the "squid boats" excuse, myself LOL     
Comment icon #7 Posted by gostar 5 years ago
(A apart of a Bible Study for sure) Part 1   Part 2 (Bible Study) (Jubilee Period Acknowledgement) 1947 Roswell UFO + 50 Years to 1997 Turin Shroud of Jesus Burning 1948 Independance of Isreal + 49 Years to 1997 Turin Shroud of Jesus Burning ...................... (Prophecy of Golden Gates Jerusalem, the Lord Returns and the Jewish People and Population are burned to ashes and returned to their graves) (NYC and Jerusalem have that in common, the dominant Jewish population clusters) ...................... More Correct Statement* (Nothing At All, No Value) 1. 70 Years of Daniel (Dan.9:2) to 9/2... [More]
Comment icon #8 Posted by Hankenhunter 5 years ago
You started celebrating New Years celebrations early, hav'nt you? Happy New Year.  Hank  
Comment icon #9 Posted by gostar 5 years ago
(Some People can read the reply of Kaikoura, as an even that took place relative to the end of the Vietnam War .................... there will be another war in asia soon ................ Kaikoura=North Korean War) (Nguyen Van Lem/Moses, is the image of the man on the poster in the background)


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