Pilot Encounters UAP

What was reported

On 14 November 1989 an Air Force pilot flying above Mafikeng in Bophuthatswana saw a silver, rugby-ball-shaped object with flashing red and green lights. It moved away from him and stayed ahead when he pursued it, climbing far above his aircraft's ceiling; when he turned, it followed him. TV announcer Danie Hefers later interviewed a CSIR spokesman, and the TV programme AGENDA reported that CSIR would not talk to Hefers but claimed no sightings had been reported since 1981. Hind first heard of the report in late 1989 when James van Greunen tied it to his Kalahari crash hoax. Through South African contacts she traced the pilot, telephoned him in Mafikeng, and he promised to answer a letter; she wrote twice and never received a reply.

What Hind made of it

Hind traced and phoned the pilot but he never answered her letters; she notes the case was exploited by the van Greunen hoax and leaves it unresolved.

Explanation offered
CSIR said no sightings had been reported since 1981 and that logical explanations exist for such objects; James van Greunen tied the report to his Kalahari crash hoax.

In their words

• It was a silver coloured object, shaped like a rugby ball and had great speed and power with flashing red and green lights.

• We make no special investigations into UFOs. Should an interesting observation occur, then CSIR would immediately institute an investigation.

Cross references

• Kalahari crash claim of 7 May 1989 (van Greunen)
• South African TV programme AGENDA
• CSIR (WNNR)

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 9 (February 1994), spread 05