Watch the Skies
Like many science-fiction writers and fans, I've been fascinated by the UFO phenomenon since early childhood. I've even been fortunate enough to see an object in the sky that defied my attempts to explain it (ask me to tell you about it sometime). So I was very pleased to hear that Britain's Ministry of Defence was releasing some long-classified documents this week. The results, though, were a bit of a mixed bag.
The best of the bunch is probably the Alitalia incident. In 1991, when I was in my final year of high school, I heard a report on BBC Radio 1 of a near miss between a passenger jet and a UFO at Heathrow airport. I can't tell you how excited I was that the BBC were reporting it. In my teenage naivety, I was sure the truth was about to burst out. There were reliable witnesses this time (two Alitalia airline pilots in the air and a radar operator on the ground).
How can anyone deny the existence of UFOs now? I thought. Wait till the pilots are interviewed on television. This'll be great!
I rushed home at lunchtime to catch the news again, but the story wasn't mentioned even once. Not on TV. Not on radio. I listened again at dinner time. Same results. Nothing.
That night, my brother phoned a BBC Radio 1 DJ who was known to have a strong interest in UFOs. We were sure he'd have something to say. He did, but it wasn't much. 'I heard about it,' he said. 'Thanks for calling. Bye.' Pretty brusque for a guy who liked the sound of his own voice so much.
Anyway, that was the end of it. The story was squashed and, in a single day, I'd gone from thinking it would break the whole subject of UFOs open to thinking we'd probably never hear of it again.
Now, seventeen years later, the report has been released and we know that the incident definitely happened. Mind you, it's far from the earthshaking event that a seventeen-year-old Steve thought it was. The UFO was brown and missile-shaped (and definitely not a missile in the conventional sense of the word). The pilot shouted a warning to his co-pilot. The object was recorded on radar. And the MoD thought it was worth denying for seventeen years.
Funny lot, the MoD.
The ministry also decided it was worth classifying a letter and drawing sent to the authorities in 1990 by a woman who claimed to come from a planet called Amazon, and who crashed to Earth in the company of other beings from the planet Spectra who had 'ears like Mr. Spock'.
I'm glad they classified that one. Definitely a national security threat.
But releasing the Amazonian's letter and sketch at the same time as the Heathrow near-miss report shows just how smart the MoD really are. It's actually a bit of a masterstroke. You see, the Amazonian stuff is likely to draw a smile or a chuckle from a lot of people. And that's perfect if you want to downplay the significance of the other incidents. It's a very effective way to rob the military and civil aviation reports of genuine impact. I expect this will become standard practice with future releases: throw in a few cooky pictures with the good stuff.
(To beings from Amazon and particularly Spectra, I offer my apologies. Don't take it personally. It's just a blog post, after all. If you're ever in Japan, look me up. We'll have tea and talk about 'Battle of the Planets'. Maybe you were misrepresented. Bring Zoltar with you if he's not busy.)
Statistically speaking, the vast majority of people, when faced with the Drake equation, will concede that alien life in this galaxy is a certainty. It just makes sense. The difficulties of interstellar travel are another matter, but I've always contended that, since string theory allows for 10 dimensions (and M theory allows for 11), only four of which can so far be perceived by humans, any visitors to Earth might actually be extra-dimensional, rather than extra-terrestrial. They may even be both.
In any case, governments are always particularly cagey about things they can't explain, and I can understand that. But no one seriously expects them to have all the answers all the time. Classifying reports like those mentioned above is unnecessary in the 21st century. The days of Orson Welles-induced panic are over. SETI and the Mars rovers rule.
Now, I reckon this blog post is long enough, so I'll end it here.
But remember... Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!
The best of the bunch is probably the Alitalia incident. In 1991, when I was in my final year of high school, I heard a report on BBC Radio 1 of a near miss between a passenger jet and a UFO at Heathrow airport. I can't tell you how excited I was that the BBC were reporting it. In my teenage naivety, I was sure the truth was about to burst out. There were reliable witnesses this time (two Alitalia airline pilots in the air and a radar operator on the ground).
How can anyone deny the existence of UFOs now? I thought. Wait till the pilots are interviewed on television. This'll be great!
I rushed home at lunchtime to catch the news again, but the story wasn't mentioned even once. Not on TV. Not on radio. I listened again at dinner time. Same results. Nothing.
That night, my brother phoned a BBC Radio 1 DJ who was known to have a strong interest in UFOs. We were sure he'd have something to say. He did, but it wasn't much. 'I heard about it,' he said. 'Thanks for calling. Bye.' Pretty brusque for a guy who liked the sound of his own voice so much.
Anyway, that was the end of it. The story was squashed and, in a single day, I'd gone from thinking it would break the whole subject of UFOs open to thinking we'd probably never hear of it again.
Now, seventeen years later, the report has been released and we know that the incident definitely happened. Mind you, it's far from the earthshaking event that a seventeen-year-old Steve thought it was. The UFO was brown and missile-shaped (and definitely not a missile in the conventional sense of the word). The pilot shouted a warning to his co-pilot. The object was recorded on radar. And the MoD thought it was worth denying for seventeen years.
Funny lot, the MoD.
The ministry also decided it was worth classifying a letter and drawing sent to the authorities in 1990 by a woman who claimed to come from a planet called Amazon, and who crashed to Earth in the company of other beings from the planet Spectra who had 'ears like Mr. Spock'.
I'm glad they classified that one. Definitely a national security threat.
But releasing the Amazonian's letter and sketch at the same time as the Heathrow near-miss report shows just how smart the MoD really are. It's actually a bit of a masterstroke. You see, the Amazonian stuff is likely to draw a smile or a chuckle from a lot of people. And that's perfect if you want to downplay the significance of the other incidents. It's a very effective way to rob the military and civil aviation reports of genuine impact. I expect this will become standard practice with future releases: throw in a few cooky pictures with the good stuff.
(To beings from Amazon and particularly Spectra, I offer my apologies. Don't take it personally. It's just a blog post, after all. If you're ever in Japan, look me up. We'll have tea and talk about 'Battle of the Planets'. Maybe you were misrepresented. Bring Zoltar with you if he's not busy.)
Statistically speaking, the vast majority of people, when faced with the Drake equation, will concede that alien life in this galaxy is a certainty. It just makes sense. The difficulties of interstellar travel are another matter, but I've always contended that, since string theory allows for 10 dimensions (and M theory allows for 11), only four of which can so far be perceived by humans, any visitors to Earth might actually be extra-dimensional, rather than extra-terrestrial. They may even be both.
In any case, governments are always particularly cagey about things they can't explain, and I can understand that. But no one seriously expects them to have all the answers all the time. Classifying reports like those mentioned above is unnecessary in the 21st century. The days of Orson Welles-induced panic are over. SETI and the Mars rovers rule.
Now, I reckon this blog post is long enough, so I'll end it here.
But remember... Watch the skies, everywhere! Keep looking. Keep watching the skies!
Labels: UFOs
posted by Steve Parker at
9:57 AM
2 Comments
