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40+y later, declassified docs show Kaikoura lights baffled NZ govt
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MrPosti...@kymhorsell.com
Jul 31, 2021, 5:11:03 PM7/31/21
to
I skimmed a few of the articles (e.g. below) about the NZ lights
incident and reflected how much is lost to history and how quickly.
I was a young university researcher back then, having left home a
couple years earlier and about to start working my way through medical
school.
One of my "new" few possessions at the time was a TV and 24 hr
programming was a new thing, mostly B&W movies.
But one Christmas I was up late and they weren't showing an old
B-grade horror movie hosted by a guy in a skeleton suit. A news story
broke in almost real time. Almost a first of AUS TV. An Australian
news crew had been investigating what later became known as the
Kaikoura Lights and there was great excitement because they had seen
the same thing. The news break was shown around midnight and "for
some reason" after 2 days never mentioned again.
The crew had hired an aircraft to fly the same route as the original
plane flying (I gather) down to the S Island where they had also "seen
something".
The news clip aired showed the somewhat jocular TV crew filming out
the windows of the aircraft and asking various questions of at least
one original witness.
(From memory, approxcimately :) "So this is where you saw it then?".
Witness: "Yes... maybe a little further along".
They TV people were making light of the "sighting" (you could hear the
quotes when the reporter said the word) but the witness was obviously
quite serious.
Suddenly, the situation changed 180 deg. There was some kind of light
outside the window, buzzing the hired aircraft. At first it was on one
side. Then it zipped around to the other side. it was in front. It
fell behind. It kept circling the plane.
The TV crew were suddenly very very nervous. They were in a light
aircraft with some weird thing screwing around at high speed "just
outside the windows". It was either moving at supersonic speeds and/or
getting very close. It might even smack into them if (whatever) wasnt
careful. The pilot of their plane just kept flying straight and level
and keeping a cool head.
The pilot called up some area radar controller and they confirmed
there was another object at their position and it was (some range of
low numbers of miles quoted) quite close. It kept moving around their
aircraft at high speed.
This all lasted maybe 5 minutes.
All very very exciting. I remember sitting up at night in my little
flat, watching this "unprecedented" midnight news coverage of a weird
vent that had broken all that distance over in NZ only 1-2 hrs before
and how amazing it was I could see it. Not to mention raising some
hairs on the back of my neck because the AUS TV crew were so
non-plussed they had seen the UFO as well where they had expected to
be debunking the whole report. OK. Maybe it was more accurate to say
they were scared out of their wits now.
The following day there was nightly news comment on the overnight
breaking news item. The inevitable expert came on and claimed it was
most likely the planet Venus. It was all a big mistake. He dismissed
the stuff from the radar people that it was (e.g.) only a few miles
away from their hired aircraft and was seen moving from one side to
the other. Radars were complicated and always picking up spurious
returns from birds or basketball poles and stuff like that.
The film crew was highly unimpressed with their item thrown in the
garbage can by the "expert(s)". The boot was on the other foot now.
So they went up the next night same time same cameras same lenses same
aircraft and retraced their route again taking shots of Venus out the
aircraft windows. Their new footage was shown on the nightly news the
next day. It "obviously" looked one hell of a lot different to the
glowing blob they caught the previous night zipping around their plane.
And of course being an accountant type I put the apparent angular
diameter of the original object (compared with Venus with the same
camera/lens) and the range of distances the radar people had been
citing the prev night to calculate the object -- or at least the
glowing part of it -- was only about 2m across.
I remember I was very disappointed because I couldn't imagine a bunch
of aliens could be so small to fit in that kind of tiny space.
After the 2nd news item with the shot of Venus we never heard about
the incident or news reports every again on AUS TV news. It was an
era, according to other UFO witnesses that have just started talking
about their own sightings again after decades, when military people --
sometimes Australian and sometimes American -- would visit their homes
and tell them to shut up about what they saw otherwise it would be put
about they were drunk on the job and they would find themselves out of work.
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ufo-sightings-over-kaikoura-baffled-nz-govt/ZSTVLPDRFF7OQXPURHVH3XEHBU/>
UFO sightings over Kaikoura baffled NZ Government
31 Jul, 2021 09:04 AM
Ben Strang
Declassified govt documents show officials were struggling to
debunk TV1 footage of the KaikÅura lights UFO sightings in Dec 1978.
In a report submitted to the United Nations in Jan 1979, the
Dept of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) classified the
objects as "UFOs until identified", but said the "prospect of extra
terrestrial intervention being proved is regarded as extremely remote".
The document is one of a large group of declassified documents regarding
"Unidentified Flying Objects" at Archives New Zealand, which came from New
Zealand's post at the UN between 1977 and 1982.
Read More
* Crew remember the day UFO was spotted over KaikÅura 40 years on - NZ Herald
* UFO mystery remains unsolved - NZ Herald
* Australian brothers say they witnessed 2 UFOs in 'conflict' before 1980
crash - NZ Herald
* Lights in the sky haunt TV producer for 3 decades - NZ Herald
In the briefing, DSIR debunks one film of the famous event, but has trouble
in doing the same with TV1's footage.
"Both Crockett's and TV1's films are highly distorted," the briefing reads.
"Crockett's film now considered unmeritous because of visual discrepancies
produced by filming through an argosy window. DSIR have actually duplicated
Crockett's results by shining a torch light onto the plane's window.
[image] Paul Davidson, of Blenheim, with his Argosy aircraft, Merchant
Enterprise, which he alleges was involved in a close encounter with UFOs off
the Kaikoura coast. Photo / NZME Paul Davidson, of Blenheim, with his Argosy
aircraft, Merchant Enterprise, which he alleges was involved in a close
encounter with UFOs off the Kaikoura coast. Photo / NZME
"TV1's film proving more interesting as it was a straight shot free of any distortion produced by filming through glass and plastic.
"However, aberrations are apparent in the film which is making it difficult to analyse. DSIR are now converting the film to computer readout and are hopeful that distortions can be erased."
DSIR said atmospheric conditions could explain false radar readings at the time of the sightings, where both Christchurch and Wellington air traffic control registered signals.
They said the readings weren't consistent with the sightings of pilots, or ground sightings.
...
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incident and reflected how much is lost to history and how quickly.
I was a young university researcher back then, having left home a
couple years earlier and about to start working my way through medical
school.
One of my "new" few possessions at the time was a TV and 24 hr
programming was a new thing, mostly B&W movies.
But one Christmas I was up late and they weren't showing an old
B-grade horror movie hosted by a guy in a skeleton suit. A news story
broke in almost real time. Almost a first of AUS TV. An Australian
news crew had been investigating what later became known as the
Kaikoura Lights and there was great excitement because they had seen
the same thing. The news break was shown around midnight and "for
some reason" after 2 days never mentioned again.
The crew had hired an aircraft to fly the same route as the original
plane flying (I gather) down to the S Island where they had also "seen
something".
The news clip aired showed the somewhat jocular TV crew filming out
the windows of the aircraft and asking various questions of at least
one original witness.
(From memory, approxcimately :) "So this is where you saw it then?".
Witness: "Yes... maybe a little further along".
They TV people were making light of the "sighting" (you could hear the
quotes when the reporter said the word) but the witness was obviously
quite serious.
Suddenly, the situation changed 180 deg. There was some kind of light
outside the window, buzzing the hired aircraft. At first it was on one
side. Then it zipped around to the other side. it was in front. It
fell behind. It kept circling the plane.
The TV crew were suddenly very very nervous. They were in a light
aircraft with some weird thing screwing around at high speed "just
outside the windows". It was either moving at supersonic speeds and/or
getting very close. It might even smack into them if (whatever) wasnt
careful. The pilot of their plane just kept flying straight and level
and keeping a cool head.
The pilot called up some area radar controller and they confirmed
there was another object at their position and it was (some range of
low numbers of miles quoted) quite close. It kept moving around their
aircraft at high speed.
This all lasted maybe 5 minutes.
All very very exciting. I remember sitting up at night in my little
flat, watching this "unprecedented" midnight news coverage of a weird
vent that had broken all that distance over in NZ only 1-2 hrs before
and how amazing it was I could see it. Not to mention raising some
hairs on the back of my neck because the AUS TV crew were so
non-plussed they had seen the UFO as well where they had expected to
be debunking the whole report. OK. Maybe it was more accurate to say
they were scared out of their wits now.
The following day there was nightly news comment on the overnight
breaking news item. The inevitable expert came on and claimed it was
most likely the planet Venus. It was all a big mistake. He dismissed
the stuff from the radar people that it was (e.g.) only a few miles
away from their hired aircraft and was seen moving from one side to
the other. Radars were complicated and always picking up spurious
returns from birds or basketball poles and stuff like that.
The film crew was highly unimpressed with their item thrown in the
garbage can by the "expert(s)". The boot was on the other foot now.
So they went up the next night same time same cameras same lenses same
aircraft and retraced their route again taking shots of Venus out the
aircraft windows. Their new footage was shown on the nightly news the
next day. It "obviously" looked one hell of a lot different to the
glowing blob they caught the previous night zipping around their plane.
And of course being an accountant type I put the apparent angular
diameter of the original object (compared with Venus with the same
camera/lens) and the range of distances the radar people had been
citing the prev night to calculate the object -- or at least the
glowing part of it -- was only about 2m across.
I remember I was very disappointed because I couldn't imagine a bunch
of aliens could be so small to fit in that kind of tiny space.
After the 2nd news item with the shot of Venus we never heard about
the incident or news reports every again on AUS TV news. It was an
era, according to other UFO witnesses that have just started talking
about their own sightings again after decades, when military people --
sometimes Australian and sometimes American -- would visit their homes
and tell them to shut up about what they saw otherwise it would be put
about they were drunk on the job and they would find themselves out of work.
<https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/ufo-sightings-over-kaikoura-baffled-nz-govt/ZSTVLPDRFF7OQXPURHVH3XEHBU/>
UFO sightings over Kaikoura baffled NZ Government
31 Jul, 2021 09:04 AM
Ben Strang
Declassified govt documents show officials were struggling to
debunk TV1 footage of the KaikÅura lights UFO sightings in Dec 1978.
In a report submitted to the United Nations in Jan 1979, the
Dept of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) classified the
objects as "UFOs until identified", but said the "prospect of extra
terrestrial intervention being proved is regarded as extremely remote".
The document is one of a large group of declassified documents regarding
"Unidentified Flying Objects" at Archives New Zealand, which came from New
Zealand's post at the UN between 1977 and 1982.
Read More
* Crew remember the day UFO was spotted over KaikÅura 40 years on - NZ Herald
* UFO mystery remains unsolved - NZ Herald
* Australian brothers say they witnessed 2 UFOs in 'conflict' before 1980
crash - NZ Herald
* Lights in the sky haunt TV producer for 3 decades - NZ Herald
In the briefing, DSIR debunks one film of the famous event, but has trouble
in doing the same with TV1's footage.
"Both Crockett's and TV1's films are highly distorted," the briefing reads.
"Crockett's film now considered unmeritous because of visual discrepancies
produced by filming through an argosy window. DSIR have actually duplicated
Crockett's results by shining a torch light onto the plane's window.
[image] Paul Davidson, of Blenheim, with his Argosy aircraft, Merchant
Enterprise, which he alleges was involved in a close encounter with UFOs off
the Kaikoura coast. Photo / NZME Paul Davidson, of Blenheim, with his Argosy
aircraft, Merchant Enterprise, which he alleges was involved in a close
encounter with UFOs off the Kaikoura coast. Photo / NZME
"TV1's film proving more interesting as it was a straight shot free of any distortion produced by filming through glass and plastic.
"However, aberrations are apparent in the film which is making it difficult to analyse. DSIR are now converting the film to computer readout and are hopeful that distortions can be erased."
DSIR said atmospheric conditions could explain false radar readings at the time of the sightings, where both Christchurch and Wellington air traffic control registered signals.
They said the readings weren't consistent with the sightings of pilots, or ground sightings.
...
--
A Plant That `Cannot Die' Reveals Its Genetic Secrets
The New York Times, 31 Jul 2021 09:52Z
CDC study shows 74% of people infected in Massachusetts Covid outbreak were
fully vaccinated
CNBC, 31 Jul 2021 0:49Z
Saturn And Jupiter In Opposition: Where And How To See It
NPR, 30 Jul 2021
[So bright!]
[Redux:]
China on 'high alert' as delta outbreak spreads to 5 provinces
Yahoo News, 30 Jul 2021 14:46Z
Nanjing: New virus outbreak worst after Wuhan, says China state media
BBC News, 30 Jul 2021 05:27Z
[Cocky!]
Bird neurocranial and body mass evolution across the end-Cretaceous mass
extinction: The avian brain shape left other dinosaurs behind
Science Advances, 30 Jul 2021 18:31Z
Google's quantum computer supposedly just made a time crystal
SlashGear, 30 Jul 2021 17:55Z
[A time crystal has a structure that repeats over time rather than
over space. Interesting because the system never reaches equilibrium
i.e. "immortal". First observed ~2016].
Trump Tax Returns Must Be Transmitted To House Panel, DOJ Says
NPR, 30 Jul 2021 19:55Z
Pilots in L.A. Are Warned to 'Use Caution' After Sighting of Flying Person:
'The Jet Man Is Back'
Yahoo, 29 Jul 2021 20:39Z
FBI investigating latest alleged Los Angeles 'jetpack guy' sighting
Fox News, 31 Jul 2021 0:51Z
The FBI is investigating a new report of Los Angeles' elusive
"jetpack guy"-- who may have been spotted soaring over ...
[Sur-prise!]
Japan extends state of emergency after COVID cases rise
Sky News Australia on MSN.com, 30 Jul 2021 22:29Z
Japan has expanded its state of emergency to 4 more provinces as COVID-19
infections spread at a ...
[Thinking Outside The Wheelhouse:]
The truth is still out there: why the current UFO craze may be a problem of
intelligence failings
Space.com, 30 Jul 2021 17:10Z
This raises serious questions as to how the intelligence process became so
muddied, and why UFOs have rocketed up ...
Doubt Cast on Premise of Subsurface Liquid Water Lakes on Mars - May Just Be
Frozen Clay
SciTechDaily, 30 Jul 2021 10:05Z
People who live to 100 have unique gut bacteria signatures
Livescience.com, 30 Jul 2021 12:02Z
[Totally Normal:]
Russian module throws International Space Station out of control with
thruster misfire
ABC News, 30 Jul 2021 02:50Z
Russia's newly-arrived Nauka science lab causes drama in space, momentarily
cutting off communication with ground controllers and tilting the ISS out of
position for 45 minutes.
This man says a public footpath is on his property, now he is billing
council for $174k
ABC News, 30 Jul 2021 02:49Z
A man has sent his local council a bill for the public footpath, power poles
and Telstra pits built on his Tasmanian property. And while he's been told
to "desist from sending such invoices", he says if they aren't willing to
negotiate, he'll fence it all off.
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