Arica airport tower lights
- Date
- 31 Mar 1997
- Place
- Chacalluta airport and the sea off Morro de Arica, Chile
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Unexplained
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Just before 1 a.m. staff in the Chacalluta airport tower saw three objects over the Pacific near the Morro de Arica, which airport director Julio Schettner said hovered at 3,000 to 4,500 metres for about two hours with blue, red, green and yellow lights before leaving towards the Andes. Accounts differ on radar: one version says they were tracked at very high speed, another that the tower radar could not hold them and Arequipa and Santiago radar had no traffic in the area. The civil aviation authority (DGAC) publicly confirmed the sighting days later, the year its CEFAA committee was founded. No data or file has been released.
What officials concluded
Unresolved
DGAC (April 1997): sighting confirmed, not identified
Strongest ordinary reading
none established
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- No: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- Yes: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- Patrick Gross: Chile's official UFO stanceufology.patrickgross.org
On the map
18.35° S, 70.34° W, plotted at the site
Show on the map