Airliner evaded object

Press, 29 June 1987, Page 10

Airliner evaded object

NZPA-Reuter London A British airline pilot told how he had to take evasive action to avoid hitting a mystery object over the Soviet republic of Kazakhstan.

“It was definitely not an aircraft, of that I am positive. None of us had ever seen anything like it before,” First Officer Anthony Colin, said in a letter published in “The Times.”

"The Times” said the crew of five of a British Airways Jumbo, on a flight from London to Bangkok in April, were baffled by the object with twinkling lights which flew directly towards them before disappearing at high speed over the horizon.

A British Airways spokesman said that Soviet air traffic control had confirmed that there

were no other aircraft in the area at the time.

He suggested the most plausible explanation was that it was a piece of a satellite re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. “Captains sometimes report seeing space debris,” he said. “We are all bitter, cynical aviators who like to find a scientific explanation for everything. But this has got us foxed,” Colin said.