Sighting record / 1999
3 February 1999. A Debonair BAe 146 was cruising at 28,000 feet over the North Sea, flying from Sweden to Humberside Airport in England. Then the jet's underside was bathed in red light from below. Ten seconds of it. An unnatural, bright light. According to the press, the captain saw a long, silver cylinder the size of a battleship, with rows of square portholes. It came to an abrupt halt. Then it shot past the airliner and vanished at enormous speed. Three other pilots were said to have logged the same bright object. The crew's official report, though, mentions only the light.
Debonair was a low-cost airline based at London Luton. It flew from June 1996 to October 1999, mostly with BAe 146 jets. On 3 February 1999, one of its 96-seat BAe 146s was flying a charter from Linköping/Saab Airport in Sweden to Humberside Airport in England. In the cabin sat business executives flying from Sweden. In the cockpit sat a captain whose name has never appeared in any account.