Defence chiefs probed series of UFO sightings over Inverclyde

Defence chiefs probed series of UFO sightings over Inverclyde

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Entries included a report of two bright stationary lights hovering over Inverclyde and five lights over Greenock, both in 1999.

The files also revealed a woman saw a large bright light hovering in the sky above Kilmacolm in 2003 and a man spotted a yellow spacecraft above Greenock in 2005.

The most recent entry was on December 25, 2009, when two orange lights were seen hovering over Greenock.

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A very short article and no explanation of what the objects could have been. As long as they pose no threat for the national security it appears to be not interesting for the British ministry of defense.

So I could build an unmarked plane and intrude British airspace without consequences because I'm not a threat if I would fly an (homemade) unidentified flying object?
No terror alert?
Personally I think they know exactly what they are.

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(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Regenstorm

So I could build an unmarked plane and intrude British airspace without consequences because I'm not a threat if I would fly an (homemade) unidentified flying object? No terror alert? Personally I think they know exactly what they are.

Good point.

It is well past the time frame of the beginning of the war on terror.

reply to post by Regenstorm


Man you are onto a winner with the homemade unmarked plane idea.
No way to tax a UFO.

Maybe just get a load of coloured lights slapped all over your plane to make it look weird.
Could be dangerous though..

The ministry are ALWAYS interested in UFOs near their bases,and you could be right that they know exactly what they are.

Originally posted by Regenstorm
So I could build an unmarked plane and intrude British airspace without consequences because I'm not a threat if I would fly an (homemade) unidentified flying object?

They don't say anything about any radars tracking the object.

If your homemade plane was so stealthy it didn't show up on radar and didn't appear to pose any threat, they might ignore that too.

But if you got close enough, and if your plane was big enough, and assuming you don't have access to the $15,000 a gallon stealth paint, and your plane wasn't a stealthy design, then it would probably show up on radar and at that point they might consider it a threat depending on your flight path.

If you think a light or two in the sky is a possible threat, you should do more UFO research. In some cases lights are seen which may not be related to any physical objects. Here's a 1952 US coast Guard photograph of such lights, where the photographer stated they could be a "reflection" of some sort:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/209a237ac9da.jpg[/atsimg]

Here is a still shot from a video near Salida CO of a light in the sky, where it was much brighter at one point. I took this screenshot when it appeared to be fading out, suggesting it's also a reflection:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2e4944e08074.png[/atsimg]

This is why NICAP prefers the term UAP for "Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon" rather than UFO, because in many sightings, it's apparent that there is no "object" but in some cases just a light or lights seen. Lights where there is no object confirmed by radar, are probably not a threat.

Also if you decide to build a plane to see if you can sneak past air defenses, I'd suggest you do it with the lights off rather than the lights on, you'll be less conspicuous that way. But I wouldn't recommend it because radar will probably detect you unless you have some good stealth tech which is probably illegal for you to have.

reply to post by Arbitrageur


There a numerous occasions in which they were spotted on radar as well. But only on military radar. Air-traffic-control uses radar that automatically filter out all anomalies like inversion but also UFOs. That's why these guys never see one on their screen.

Originally posted by Regenstorm


A very short article and no explanation of what the objects could have been. As long as they pose no threat for the national security it appears to be not interesting for the British ministry of defense.

So I could build an unmarked plane and intrude British airspace without consequences because I'm not a threat if I would fly an (homemade) unidentified flying object?
No terror alert?
Personally I think they know exactly what they are.

news.stv.tv
(visit the link for the full news article)

You try that, and they go "Hey, that's not one of ours"

And next thing you know (provided you escape the gunfire) your UFO stunt is all over the News, and even the President is scared to death.

(Satire - because the crafts and technology is ours in the first place!)

reply to post by Regenstorm

You're right that the ATC radar tries to filter out things like weather patterns such as temperature inversions and do a better job than in the past.

But are you saying it won't pick up an unidentified aircraft with it's transponder off? If so, I'd like to see a source backing up that claim, I thought it would, and I have a source to back up what I think:

georgewashington.blogspot.com...

On 9/11, Flight 77 was in fact tracked on radar, and could have been intercepted with fighter jets....

Even with the transponder silent, the plane should have been visible on radar, both to controllers who handle cross-continent air traffic and to a Federal Aviation Administration command center outside of Washington, according to air traffic controllers.

Now to support a claim similar to your claim, but not the same claim, it's easier to detect a UFO on a military radar with this feature:

Air traffic control radar, or at least military radar, must -- with the push of a button -- be able to use computer programming to hide all data for planes which have been accounted for as normal, civilian airplanes. In other words, those with working transponder signals.

So the claims of 9/11 weren't that the planes without transponders couldn't be detected with ATC radar, they were that it was hard to find them among all the clutter of all the other flights:

"But the area was so congested and it was incredibly difficult to find. We were looking for little dash marks in a pile of clutter and a pile of aircraft on a two-dimensional scope.” Each fluorescent green pulsating dot on their radar scopes represents an airplane, and there are thousands currently airborne, especially over the busy northeast US.

In that case, a military radar would come in handy for finding the one or few craft without transponders if they can erase all the aircraft WITH transponders from the display. But the aircraft should still show up on non-military radar even with the transponder off, I think.