Norwegian main airport cancelled flights for an hour

A hang-glider-like object was observed in 8000 feet altitude over Gardermoen airport today. The airport has canceled all flights at the moment. I wonder if somebody got their numbers wrong. Isn't that a bit high for a hang-glider? And would it not be easy to confirm if it was a hang-glider or not? Well, this might be just the normal UFO that proves to be just something that is unaccounted for in the airspace. But, I just thought I'd mention it. At the bottom is a translation of the full article. I'm guessing one of two things can happen. Either the object is identified rather quickly, or the story might get buried because after all "nothing serious happened", or something along those lines.

link didn't work. Use translate.google.com on this page:
www.aftenposten.no...

Sorry I got an "Error Page". Please fix?

Thanks

reply to post by Skate


Navigate down, the article is there. It's another link.

But don't hold your breath, the article is poorly translated and extremely short. Not nearly enough information to even really comment on.

Also, unless reading comprehension has failed me, the article mentions the airport reopened an hour later? So the headline of this topic may be slightly misleading.

Edit:

Thank you for changing the headline. Much better.

I wonder, since this seemed high for a hang glider, wether this was in fact some sort of microlite? After all, a microlite is just a hanglider with an engine and a chair bolted to it.

reply to post by TrueBrit


That's what I was thinking it was.

Either that or some adrenaline junkie who decided to hang glide off Mt. Everest in a westerly direction.

Yes, a microlite could fit the description. At 8000 feet excess oxygen would not be needed, but I would assume some kind of motor to ascend to those heights would be needed. My guess would be that this is just a unidentified flying object because the person flying it forgot to follow some protocols while scheduling the flight. That would also account for the difficulty in identifying what it was.

here is another link to the story....just needs to be translated...a little more descriptive


www.fvn.no...

I translated for everyone, it reads UFO..... Someone dig up some pics, being over an airport there has to be pictures from someone!!!

I don't see UFO from the original link, it does mention a hanglider like object. It also mentions that Heathrow was closed for an hour?? translation of banner line,


Norwegian to English translation

Heathrow was closed for an hour
All planes on the way to Oslo Gardermoen Airport were diverted to other airports because of an unidentified hang glider or similar in the airspace.
Listen
Read phonetically
Dictionary - View detailed dictionary

To get the facts straight, as far as it can be done at this point, the airport has redirected flights because of this object for at least 90 minutes. Initially it was a commercial airliner that first reported it, and according to the airport chief communication officer it was in the shape of a hang glider. It was reportedly located at 8000 foot (2400 meters). No other airplane has observed the object, according to the airports' CCO.

I can't quite understand how a hang glider could get that high around that area in the first place. The vast surroundings of gardermoen airport is mostly flat, and I don't believe there's any area neaby a hang glider could set off from to get at that altitude.

I strongly doubt this was a hang glider, and I wouldn't suspect the airport would give it any credence as to it being a UFO. In the coming days, if the general media still considers it newsworthy, there might be some interesting witness reports.

But who knows, it may yield some interesting results after some freedom of information requests in the future though.

Here is photos that might be related to the anomaly :
(original size images with camera data)

flic.kr...

Here you can download the files in their full size(zipped):
www.multiupload.com...

Photos were taken some hours later, some miles south/east.

Thanks to TobyAllan at Norwegian Aviation forums (www.flyprat.net) for sending me these photos.
(Photos were shot with camera on a tripod at about a 60 degree angle)

Seems to be a discussion going on in that Norwegian forum. Wonder what that thing was. Thanks for digging this up, Zyntax. And as priorly mentioned, just run the site through translate.google.com... to get it translated from Norwegian to English.

forum.flyprat.no...

I hope someone can give some kind of answer of what the object in the pictures is.

these are the photos uploaded by the fickr user is this all the same object over the airport?

reply to post by simples


They should be yes, thats what i got told from the guy that took the photos.

Here you can download the original files from the camera btw:

www.multiupload.com...

im guessing the third photo is at a slow shutter speed to get the squiggly effect but even if it is no glider moves like that but that still doesnt rule out the guy wasnt moveing the camera with a slow shutter speed.

Looks like one of these, sorry for the bad pic but I forgotten the name of the Aircraft. However its shape doesn't quite fit with the pictures and they wouldn't close both Oslo and Heathrow for something that can be tracked on RADAR, and would have been intercepted in minuted by both the Norwegian and RAF jets. I doubt one of these even has the fuel capability to make the transit across Oslo at 8000ft and then on past Heathrow at the same altitude without having to transit in the Netherlands.

byebyemold.com...

reply to post by simples


They guy who took the photos had it on a tripod and took the photos at a angle of about 60 degrees.

reply to post by simples


Dam! Did they shoot it down? That 3rd picture doesn't bode to well for the pilot.

This does not look like a hangglider, it looks more like an experimental aircraft or a UAV.

Hangliders can do 8000 feet if they find a good thermal, and flat ground on a hot day is good for finding thermals, but this looks too big and too rigid to be a hanglider. It must have been some sort of small aircraft. It looks exactly like a UAV to me, and it looks like someone took it out!