Person
Ray Bowyer
Also known as Captain Bowyer, Bowyer
- Captain, Aurigny Air Services (18 years' flying experience in 2007)
Ray Bowyer is a British airline captain who, on 23 April 2007, flying an Aurigny Air Services Trislander from Southampton to Alderney in the Channel Islands, saw two huge, brilliant yellow objects hanging over the sea. The sighting is unusual for being recorded in real time on air traffic control tapes, picked up on radar, seen by his passengers, and reportedly seen by a second airline captain.
On the Jersey control recording he reports "a definite contact" at twelve o'clock, "very bright yellow object, looking well like a cigar". Through binoculars he saw a second, identical object, each with a dark band about two-thirds along, sitting at the top of the haze layer. He first thought the light was sunlight off greenhouses. Jersey radar showed primary contacts west of Alderney, and Bowyer later estimated from the radar data that the objects were enormous, perhaps a mile long. He filed a report with the Civil Aviation Authority, which passed it to the Ministry of Defence. The MoD declined to investigate because the objects were in French airspace.
He told the story at the November 2007 National Press Club panel and in many interviews since, urging aircrew to report what they see. An independent scientific study in 2008 examined reflections, weather and refraction and could not identify the objects. Bowyer rejects the explanations put forward, from ship reflections to a sun dog.
Sources: Jersey ATC recording (2007) · National Press Club (2007) · Bowyer interview · UK National Archives DEFE 24/2081 · Wikipedia
Facts and claims
- claimed Captain Ray Bowyer recounted his 2007 sighting near Alderney and urged aircrew to report what they see. — Ray Bowyer Source: National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters at 49:04
- claimed On the Jersey air traffic control recording he reports: “I've got a definite contact my 12:00, very bright yellow object, looking well like a cigar”; the controller had no known traffic, then reported a primary radar contact about 8 miles west of Alderney. — Ray Bowyer Source: Official ATC Recording of Pilot’s UFO Encounter: Captain Ray Bowyer (2 MASSIVE UFOs) at 1:43
- claimed Through binoculars he saw a second, identical object; he described both as cylindrical, very bright yellow, with a dark band about two-thirds along, and said his passengers could see them too. — Ray Bowyer Source: Official ATC Recording of Pilot’s UFO Encounter: Captain Ray Bowyer (2 MASSIVE UFOs) at 5:16
- claimed He says the objects appeared and disappeared on radar at the same moments, were tracked for about an hour while drifting apart at about 12 knots, and that a Blue Islands jet captain also saw them but was told by his company not to report it. — Ray Bowyer Source: EXCLUSIVE: Captain Ray Bowyer on his SHOCKING Encounter w/ MASSIVE UFOs, Alderney 2007 | UFO / UAP at 33:25
- claimed The MoD declined to investigate because the sighting was in French airspace; Bowyer says the only official response was that it posed no threat to UK or French airspace. An independent study (Baure, Clarke, Fuller and Shough, 2008) could not identify the objects with confidence. Source: Alderney UFO sighting
- claimed He addresses proposed explanations, sunlight on greenhouses, ship reflections, earthquake lights and a sun dog, and says none fits. — Ray Bowyer Source: EXCLUSIVE: Captain Ray Bowyer on his SHOCKING Encounter w/ MASSIVE UFOs, Alderney 2007 | UFO / UAP at 1:25:24
Connected files
Events
- National Press Club panel on UFOs and aviation safety (testified in)
Incidents
- Alderney UFO sighting (witness)
Videos
- Official ATC Recording of Pilot’s UFO Encounter: Captain Ray Bowyer (2 MASSIVE UFOs) (appears in)
- National Press Club - November 12th, 2007. UFO Close Encounters (appears in)
- EXCLUSIVE: Captain Ray Bowyer on his SHOCKING Encounter w/ MASSIVE UFOs, Alderney 2007 | UFO / UAP (appears in)