On December 2, 2012, at 12:55 p.m., an Airbus A320, a plane with a capacity of up to 220 passengers, was preparing to land at the airport in Glasgow, Scotland. The sky was clear, the landing lights were on.
They were 13 miles from the airport, above the Baillieston area, at an altitude of 1,200 meters, when the pilot and co-pilot saw, directly ahead, coming towards them, an object that passed about 100 meters below the plane before the crew members had time to outline some evasive maneuver or even to get a better look at what it was. But both pilots said the object was blue with some yellow or silver, was “bigger than a balloon” and had a small, well-defined front portion.
We reproduce in summary the conversation between the pilot and the control tower:
— A320: Just now something passed very close under us and the collision avoidance system did not warn us that there was something in the area;
— Control: we have nothing on the radar and there is no other traffic in the area;
— A320: We are not sure what it was, but it was quite large and was blue with yellow;
— Control: Got it. Do you have a height estimate?
— A320: I could be between four and five hundred feet above, so it was at an altitude of about 3500 feet… it was less than ten seconds after I saw it… I can’t say which way he was going, but he passed right under us;
— Control: do you think it was a glider or something like that?
— A320: maybe an ultralight plane… anyway, it was too big to be a balloon;
During the incident, the radar of the control tower did not show any trace around the A320 plane. Subsequent detailed investigations involving other radars in the area did not lead to any conclusion. Air traffic control confirmed that no signal was found from any other object during the incident. The only mention was a short “unidentified trajectory” picked up by Prestwick radar, 1.3 nautical miles east of the A320’s position and 28 seconds before the encounter.
After landing, the pilot was shocked by what happened, considering that there was a very…
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