It's only fitting that I insert this article about a colleague of @"727Sky"#11 !
Quote:MYSTERY MACHINESThe Sun:
I am a Boeing 747 pilot – I’ve seen UFOs defying all known tech & I captured a cigar-shaped object
on camera
'A Boeing 747 captain with some 9,500 hours of flight time at controls has told of his bizarre encounters with
UFOs while taking to the skies. Christiaan van Heijst explained he has witnessed objects which appear to exceed
all known technology as they appeared to hit hypersonic speeds of up to 23,000mph.
Christiaan van Heijst, he still uses wings.
The 39-year-old, from The Netherlands, is a respected airman and an an award-winning aerial photographer - and
yet he has seen things he cannot explain. UFOs are traditionally a highly stigmatised topic - often being dismissed
off hand as nothing beyond conspiracy theories or something for the world of cranks.
But in recent years the conversation has moved, with even the US government confessing their are things in the sky
which they as of yet cannot or will not publicly identify. The topic even has a new name - UAP (unidentified aerial
phenomenon).
And with former US military pilots coming forward to tell about their own unexplained experiences, that piqued the
interest of Christiaan. "I realized that what they described sounded very much like some of the strange things I have
seen years before," the pilot told The Sun Online. "I always thought it was some 'military stuff' I had seen, but now
it was possibly something else entirely that even stunned some of the best US military pilots on record."
Christiaan has been flying for 20 years - starting out as a champion aerobatics pilot before moving over to commercial
planes. He has close to 9,500 total flight hours, and 6,000 of them on the Boeing 747 - one of the world's largest and
most popular aircraft.
And he while he says some 99 per cent of the weird stuff he sees in the sky can be dismissed, there are still a "handful"
of sightings which for him defy explanation. Christiaan emphasised that as a pilot, he is trained to spot things in the sky
- with his main objective when he's at the control being to keep his plane safe.
"If I see something that catches my eye, I immediately want to know if it is another aeroplane, something weather-related,
military or anything else that might jeopardise my flight. Anything else is secondary," he told The Sun Online.
"That is also why airline pilots are credible 'trained observers': we don't search for UAP, we evaluate everything we see
based on our thorough knowledge of aerial observations, meteorological experience and wonder if anything has a direct
influence on our flightpath or aeroplane."
And for Christiaan, one of his most compelling and strange sightings was over Greece as he was flying near USS
Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier and her strike group. He was flying a Fokker 50 at the time and witnessed a bright
light appear at an extremely high altitude - moving at an approximate speed of up to Mach 30 (23,000mph).
"No known physics can describe what that light/thing did, for as far as I know. It left no trail or anything like it, just
instant speed and poof… gone," said Christiaan. He is unsure if his sighting was connected with the nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier down below, which was carry out missions linked to the Iraq War in September, 2005.
A strange object in the sky.
Other unexplained encounters include a falling light moving "very fast" as it plunged towards the ground - with no
information on the object from air traffic control in July 2005 as he flew over Germany.
And another saw his Boeing 737 encounter a ball of white light flying over the Adriatic Sea in February 2009.
The light fell towards the sea before disappearing beneath the surface without a splash.
Christiaan also shared with The Sun Online what appears to be a cigar shaped object that he took in January 2010
- with his encounter with the object lasting over an hour. He was flying from Amsterdam to Malaga at 41,000 feet
when they spotted the shape around 100 nautical miles ahead of them.
Air traffic control told them there was no other aircraft in the area. The object appeared to be large and stationary,
hanging in the sky and blocking out part of the sun. It was flying much higher than commercial air traffic, and military
air traffic control denied there was any activity in the area.
Christiaan snapped a picture, which after being enhanced by an AI system appears to show a black shape hanging
in the sky. The photo being analysed by IPACO, which is run by the French space agency's UFO investigation group
GEIPAN. Christiaan does not have a theory on what these objects may be - but he is hopeful that one day there will
be explanation. And he hopes the stigma around UFO discussions will continue to break down.
"Even rational explanations of some of the sightings might help other pilots to identify some spectacular, but mundane
things they see from above," the pilot told The Sun Online. "We might actually stumble on a rare and new atmospheric
phenomena, but the only way we can be sure is to collect data and analyse it without bias."
Christiaan said he used to "disregard" his own sightings - fearing they could be "too far fetched for me to seriously
contemplate". "Every once in a while the topic comes up among colleagues, though I rarely start the conversation
myself," he said. "Some of my colleagues have seen some truly extraordinary things during their career, but they
only discussed it with me once they felt they wouldn't be [ridiculed]"
He went on: "Personally I'm not afraid to talk about this topic as I try to steer away from speculating about the
origins or nature of what it could be. "I just want to know what it is I've witnessed and if it is of any concern for
the safety of my flight."
Christiaan added: "It was until somewhere in the 1800s that the idea of 'rocks falling from the sky' was regarded
as absurd and in the realm of fantasy, today they are commonly know them as meteorites and part of nature.
"Getting rid of the stigma is a process that takes time, but we're getting there. "Step by step."
He urged aviation and security agencies around the world to continue collecting data on the phenomenon - and
added he was pleased that discussion is opening up in the US. "I doubt we will ever hear all the US military and
intelligence agencies know about 'it' because of obvious national safety concerns," Christiaan told The Sun Online.
"But I believe that a general acceptance of the subject will eventually create a snowball-effect that might result in
some form of disclosure or understanding." Is it aliens or some sort of global conspiracy? Christiaan says that is a
"tempting trap" to fall into - but he simply urged further investigation.
He added: "Only by collecting data can we start to analyse whatever is going on.
"We just have to stay open-minded to the 'one percent' that is genuinely unknown, whatever it is. I can't wait to find
out what I've seen." US lawmakers set up new Pentagon investigation after a stunning string of leaked videos which
showed military encounters with UFOs such as the infamous "Tic Tac".
It marked an incredible turnaround after the government dismissed UFOs at the conclusion of Project Blue Book in
the 1960s. The debate which was for decades considered a fringe and damaging topic is now being openly spoke
about by very senior figures, including former President Bill Clinton and Barack Obama...'
Read The TV Guide, yer' don't need a TV.