Southern Africa Unexplained

Case No 95 · UFO Afrinews No 11, Feb. 1995

C.H. Alexander of Civil Aviation, Harare

1994 · Harare, on the approach to Runway 06, Harare Airport, Harare Airport, Zimbabwe

What was reported

C.H. Alexander, nearly five years with Civil Aviation and qualified in aircraft fire engineering, was with a friend on 14 September when they saw what looked like a wide-bodied Boeing 747 in trouble. A cluster of small white lights ran across the fuselage from wing to wing as it moved north to south as if landing on Runway 06 at Harare Airport, about 20 metres above tree-top level, with no aviation lights and no engine sound. Moving away, it threw off continuous bright sparks and streaks of spitting flame from above the fuselage near the cockpit, trailing to the tail like a locomotive's blast furnace, with a ball of fire burning on the left-wing engine. Five minutes of level flight convinced him it was no meteor; if a Russian nose cone it must have been metallic, Duralamin, Alclad or Magnesium.

What Hind made of it

Hind singles it out as one of the most interesting reports because of the witness's aviation expertise; he ruled out both a meteor and an aircraft on fire, which would circle a runway after dumping fuel.

Explanation offered
Aircraft in trouble (rejected by witness); Russian satellite nose cone, which he says would be metallic

In their words

  • There were no signs of aviation lights and there was no engine sound.

    C.H. Alexander, spread 10

  • The altitude was low: about 20 metres above tree-top level.

    C.H. Alexander, spread 10

Cross references

  • 11-05-1 umbrella entry for Case No 95

Connected

  • UAP Flap in ZimbabweCase fileSame window

    Sub-entry of Case No 95: C.H. Alexander of Civil Aviation watched the object cross the Runway 06 approach at Harare Airport, north to south, about 20 m above the trees, sparking for five minutes. The only report in the cluster genuinely located at the airport (1.1 km from Manyame, 1.7 km from the runway).

  • Other Harare reports: Auchterlonie in Newlands and Jonasi in DzivaresekwaCase fileSame window

    Alexander's north-to-south track over the airport and Auchterlonie's overhead pass in Newlands are consistent with one object seen from two suburbs 9 km apart; Jonasi's north-east to south-east track and the differing Mabelreign and Concession accounts are what made Hind suspect two or three objects, which is also what a fragmenting re-entry looks like from different bearings.

  • Report from Graham (Harare)Case fileSame place

    The Harare Airport corridor: Alexander stood on the Runway 06 approach in 1994; Graham's garden in 1997 lies under the take-off path. Hind's own suggestion for Graham's stationary silver disc was the Met Office's midday weather balloon; the 1994 object was the re-entry.

Source

Cynthia Hind, UFO Afrinews No 11 (Feb. 1995), spread 10

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