- Last Wednesday night {3rd June} light
aircraft pilot Mark Muscat had a close encounter with six "pale orange
objects" over Semaphore. He had been in the air for about 40 minutes
showing a German tourist Adelaide by night and at around 9pm he decided
to head back to Parafield airport. "I was at 2000ft. and on auto pilot
in controlled air space when I saw about six pale orange lights in front
of us" he said. "At first I thought they might be the lights
from fishing boats in the Gulf but then one of them moved very quickly
and I realised they were in the air with me."
-
- "I called Air Traffic Control to
see if they had them on their radar screens but I was told I was the only
aircraft showing." "I was watching the lights moving towards
us and at first they appeared to start moving aside as if to let me through,
but then they held their position."
-
- "As they got closer there was no
noise, no navigation lights and then I could make out six objects at various
heights but relatively close together." What Mr Muscat, a private
pilot with 12 years experience, didn't realise was that while he was watching
up in the air, residents on the ground around the Semaphore area were watching
the spectacle as well. People rang police and reported those same orange
objects appearing to stop, wait for others to catch up and then move on
towards Mr Muscat's aircraft.
-
- His Piper Arrow was travelling at 200km/hr
and he estimated the objects were travelling around the same speed as they
hurtled towards him. "I made a slight turn as the objects went by
me and I went through the middle" he said. "They were about the
size of a large car, had no navigation lights and appeared to be travelling
like an aircraft but when they passed I couldn't discern wings."
-
- "They passed about 20m either side
of my aircraft and there was no noise from them or static on the radio."
"Normally when you pass an aircraft you get wake turbulence but there
was nothing, no hissing on the radio, nothing." Mr Muscat, 37, of
Richmond, said Air Traffic Control once again told him that according to
their instruments, he was up there alone. His aircraft doesn't have a back
window so once the objects went by, he lost sight of them. "I was
very concerned at the time. I wasn't thinking about a Star Wars situation
or anything like that, I was just concerned about hitting them."
-
- "I wasn't spooked but afterwards
when I started hearing about other reports, well yes, a little spooked."
"It's hard to believe it has happened to me, I don't normally follow
this sort of thing, objects or UFO's in the sky, but I might now."
Because no investigation will be carried out it is unlikely any official
explanation will be made corncerning what happened to Mr Muscat.
-
- "It is most likely, if not guaranteed,
such things will never be completely investigated"
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