Manises incident (TAE flight JK-297)
- Date
- 11 Nov 1979
- Place
- Over the Balearic Sea near Ibiza; diversion to Manises airport, Valencia, Spain
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Contested
- Evidence strength
What was reported
Around 23:00 on 11 November 1979 the crew of a TAE Super Caravelle (flight JK-297 from Salzburg, 109 passengers), under Captain Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada, saw red lights close on the aircraft and stay about half a kilometre away, and diverted to Manises. Ground radar returns were reported, and a Mirage F1 flown by Captain Fernando Camara from Los Llanos chased a light he described as a truncated cone changing colour while his avionics showed interference. The Air Force compiled case files that were declassified in the 1990s; the analysis by Juan Antonio Fernandez Peris attributed the lights to flare stacks of a chemical complex about 160 km away and to stars, an explanation the crews reject.
What officials concluded
No conclusion stated
No official explanation has been given.
Strongest ordinary reading
Distant industrial flare stacks and stars (Fernandez Peris); rejected by the witnesses
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- Yes: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- Yes: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- Yes: 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
- Yes: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
- Wikipedia: Manises UFO incidenten.wikipedia.org
On the map
39.49° N, 0.47° W, plotted at the town or city
Show on the map