UFO in Sri Lanka seeing in 2004 but revealed in 2011 ?

Source

"I noticed a partial aura in the sky, a minute or so later there was a clap of thunder, then a short while later a ring like a doughnut appeared," a retired RAF officer told the MoD, adding that he thought it was an "air burst." in Sri Lanka in 2004 had captured a doughnut-shaped phenomenon on his camera and had sent to his former head at RAF Fylingdales in North Yorkshire. He described it as ‘a ring like a doughnut which is orange in colour with a white finger pushed through it, the head of the column glowed in luminous orange, behind the doughnut was a second cloud of colour.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/d1ba10cca416.jpg[/atsimg]

Just saw this kicking around today and thought I would share it with all of you. This is an interesting photo and I have absolutely no idea what the hell it could be.

I was hoping to bring it here and get a few educated opinions as to what this could possibly be.

Awesome photo though, and taken by military, so you know it was not them.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

reply to post by predator0187


could a sun-dog have this effect when viewing from above the clouds?

im not well informed on weather phenomenon but it dosent look like a solid object to me. not saying a ufo has to be solid. but you know...

reply to post by OUNjahhryn


However the pilot reported hearing a loud bang. It does look like a cloud with a sun set type hue.

2nd line

reply to post by OUNjahhryn


I do not think this is a typical sun dog type of event. You would also think that a military man would know the difference between a sun dog or a different phenomena.

Thanks for the reply.

Pred...

Originally posted by game over man
reply to post by OUNjahhryn

 

However the pilot reported hearing a loud bang. It does look like a cloud with a sun set type hue.

2nd line

I'm not too sure that it looks like a normal cloud, if a pilot does not know what a cloud looks like he should be fired.

I'm no expert though and it could possibly be a normal formation with sun reflecting off of it, but I would just think a pilot would know better.

Pred...

reply to post by predator0187


I wonder what kind of plane he was flying? To hear a loud bang in certain planes means it would have to be REALLY LOUD....lol. Without regarding the photo, something doesn't smell right with the story at first bite.

But anyway, without better photo information and resolution there is nothing that can be discussed here with any level of certainty.

I think it's fairly clear this was an atmospheric phenomenon of some sort. A clap of thunder (not 'a loud bang' as another poster interpreted it) followed by this. I suppose you're aware that thunderstorms shoot massive jets of plasma and antimatter up into the ionosphere?

A couple of things to note:

1. If the 'retired RAF officer' served at Fylingdales, it's unlikely that he was a pilot. RAF Fylingdales is a radar station.
   
   
2. In the unlikely event that he was indeed a pilot, he certainly was not at the controls of an aircraft -- not unless he was a commercial airline pilot (in which case I expect the article would have said so) or was flying as a mercernary for the Sri Lanka Air Force (in which case he would have had no opportunity to take pictures, or indeed carry a camera at all). Sri Lanka was in the middle of a civil war in 2004, you see.