Reports of Unidentified Flying Object: Testimony from Africa – Airline Crew Sighting, 1988
My most recent report of a UFO is a well-observed pilot and crew case that took place over Beira, Mozambique, on February 11 , 1988. Commandant Simplicio Pinto of Mozambique· Airlines (LAM), was Chief Pilot on a flight from Quelimane to Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, in a Boeing 737.
As there was no fuel at Quelimane, Pinto made a short stop-over in Beira, landing at 18:09 hrs. At the end of the runway there is a tum-around area, oriented to 170° magnetic. As he entered this area, Pinto could see a strange object in the sky.
“It looked like a wing parachute or something like a flying mattress, and appeared ‘to be in layers, ” he said. “The object had a fluorescent light, like those mercury lamps which give off an intense, very white light; the hotter the lamp gets, the whiter and more intense the light . . . something like that. “
Captain Pinto reported that the object seemed to be stationary or moving extremely slowly and he had no idea of its altitude. It was like nothing he had ever seen before. “Just to make sure, I asked my co-pilot, Jamal, to inquire of the control tower whether they had sent up a weather balloon. They replied with the questions: ‘Why are you asking? Is it because of that object up above? We began to see it at about 15:00 hrs and the Air Force radars have also picked it up. So far, we don’t know what it is, but it seems to be positioned about 125 kilometers from Beira. “
Pinto remarked that for an object to be seen so clearly at 125 km distance, it would have to be a very large object; a Jumbo would not be seen at such a distance, he added. Also, it would have to be metallic to be detected by radar.
The stop-over in Beira was short. Three passengers left and fourteen boarded the plane. When the Chief Stewardess, Isabel Lobo, opened the door of the plane, she saw – many people looking up at the sky, and running up to the flight deck she asked: ”Did you see it? What is it? ” Pinto confirmed that they had also seen it.
Half-an-hour later Captain Pinto asked the control tower for permission to take off. Meanwhile, the object still hovered over Beira. The control tower asked Pinto if he was prepared to take off with the object right above him. He replied that of course he would take off-why should he not? Apparently, the control tower had reservations about this, but finally the plane took off southwards toward Maputo. At this stage, the object was also to the south. Said Captain Pinto:
”As soon as I was up, I could see the object from much closer. I had no further doubts. It was not a plane, it was not a weather balloon, it was not something ejected from an aircraft or satellite. It was like nothing I have ever seen in my twenty-two years of flying. “
Pinto then continued heading south to identify the object. This was at about 18:40 hrs and it was getting darker on land, although in the air it was much lighter. The sun was on Pinto’s right and it was not difficult for him to see. “I saw the thing. It was simply enormous. It seemed to be stationary south of Beira, but did not seem to be as high up as I had originally calculated. I climbed above 11 ,000 feet (3,300 meters) , but had to veer right a bit as the lights were so intense, they_ blinded me. There were three, like searchlights, placed in a triangle. “
The “searchlights” emitted so much light that it be came difficult to focus or judge distances. Positioned be hind Pinto, Isabel Lobo could not take her eyes off the object. The Captain asked her to find out discreetly if any. one In the cabin had a camera so they could take a picture of whatever it was. She had seen a Japanese passenger with one, but he had disembarked at Beira and nobody else had one. Pinto did not inform the passengers about anything untoward: with 114 people on board he was afraid that there might be some panic. “I then decided to switch on the two landing lights on the port side to see whether there would be any response from the object. But because of its powerful lights, it was difficult to distinguish anything. I had thought of climbing above the object but as much as I tried, it was always above us. I called the stewardess to witness what I was about to do. Then I switched the lights on and off twice . “
Suddenly, the object started to climb vertically, its lights becoming weaker as the distance increased. Captain Pinto turned the plane back to its original course. The object was still in sight and he kept in touch with the control tower, wanting them to have a complete record of what went on. He tried to locate the object on his radar but no image showed. He climbed again but the object remained much higher, still on the port side.
“By this time we were flying at about 24,000 feet and it seemed stationary above the mouth of the Save River, near Mambone. I continued to climb but it appeared to be very far away, even when we reached our cruising height of 31 ,000 feet. “
Meanwhile, it had become dark, although for a long time they continued to see the UFO with its triangular lights. Then they flew into storm clouds and it was lost from sight.
The following day (February 12), Captain Pinto flew along the same route on the Harare (Zimbabwe) flight, at about the same time of day. Though he searched the sky carefully, there was nothing to be seen-not even a star or planet.
”What was the object we saw? I don’t know, but I would really like to find out. I think that with more sophisticated instruments, there would have been enough time to obtain more detailed information. I saw the object for forty-five minutes while people in Beira saw it hovering for more than three hours.
I keep on asking myself:
what could it be?
Why did it suddenly climb higher?
Was it in response to our signal with the landing lights?
Did their instruments perhaps signal that our plane was getting too close? “
Captain Pinto said that two days before his sighting, an object with similar characteristics had been observed above Medellin Airport in Colombia, South America (see page ix). Two days later, another was seen over Madrid. Commented co-pilot Jamal:
“There are always reports of UFOs, but I have never seen one until this time. Commandant Pinto called my attention to the object, saying ‘Do you see that thing over there? ‘ I looked and saw a long object, bigger than our plane, without windows and with a metallic look about it. It seemed to hover above the mouth of the River Save. I asked the control tower, ‘I thought you said there was no traffic around: what is that thing doing above us?’ They replied, ‘We see it but we don’t know what it is . . . “‘When we asked for permission to take off, the control tower gave us clearance: that is, they said we could go but at our own responsibility. So we took off and went to have a closer look. It had very powerful search lights. Then, when Commandant Pinto switched on our landing lights, the object slowly drew away, as if letting us overtake it. Yes, we all saw the object very clearly, but nobody could explain what it was. One thing I know for certain: it was like nothing I have ever seen before. “
Chief Stewardess Isabel Lobo added: ”When our plane stopped in Beira, I looked up and saw the object. It looked like a very large star but it did not twinkle. I asked the pilot if he had seen it and he said he had. It was a very large and powerful light. They told me it had been detected on radar, therefore it was no star. “
Isabel Lobo said that the Captain then climbed as quickly as possible and she could clearly see the search lights in a triangular formation, almost like those of a foot ball field. Even at ground level, the light hurt one’s eyes.
She said she was not afraid when the Captain switched his landing lights on and off, but the object then moved away suddenly in the opposite direction. “I think that if the plane had not had so much cargo and so many passengers, the Commandant would have gone in closer, ” she said.
When the object moved away, she likened it to a diamond ring with all the little lights shining. She was not sure if it was stationary or not, but it seemed to be moving very slowly, almost as though it was hovering. “The truth is that in my twelve years as an air hostess, I have never seen anything like that, whatever it was, ” she concluded.
My first reaction was that either NASA or the French space agency were involved with further balloon experiments (such as those in 1985 and 1987, which led to UFO reports in Zimbabwe), but there has been no verification .
There are also many peculiarities that do not fit. How does one establish the truth, one way or another?