Which agency produced Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)?

Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) is a primary-source record from Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa. Its original classification was SIN CLASIFICAR (declassified from CONFIDENCIAL).

What programs and topics appear in Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)?

Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) references Expedientes OVNI (Ejército del Aire), luminous object, light only, no shape, airliner encounter, ground corroboration and Villa Cisneros.

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DISCLOSURE / FILE

Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)

Spanish Air Force expediente 680314 documenting a 14 March 1968 sighting of a luminous object observed from the Spantax IB-371/372 flight and from the ground at Villa Cisneros air base in Spanish Sahara.

Brief

On the night of 14 March 1968, the captain and second pilot of Spantax flight IB-371/372 (Las Palmas-Villa Cisneros) observed a bright light at their altitude during landing approach; the Villa Cisneros tower reported no traffic, and the light extinguished after about 10 seconds. After takeoff for the return leg, the light reappeared and accompanied the aircraft for most of the flight, confirmed by more than fifty witnesses on the ground including the traffic officer, controller, an aviation lieutenant, the medical captain, and a quartermaster captain. Witness accounts diverge on color (white per the captain, bluish per the second pilot, reddish-orange from the tower and isthmus) and lateral distance (15 km from the air, up to 3 km from the ground), but no shape was resolved even through binoculars. The file was declassified from CONFIDENCIAL to SIN CLASIFICAR on 9 September 1992 by the Mando Operativo Aéreo intelligence officer.

Metadata

Agency: Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
Release: 1968-03-14
Type: PDF • .pdf
Length: 21 pages
Classification: SIN CLASIFICAR (declassified from CONFIDENCIAL)
Programs: Expedientes OVNI (Ejército del Aire)
Tags: luminous object, light only, no shape, airliner encounter, ground corroboration, Villa Cisneros, Spanish Sahara, 1968, Spantax IB-371/372

Key points

Expediente number 680314, location Villa Cisneros, date listed as 13 March 1968 on the cover and 14 March 1968 in the operative summary.p.1
Captain and second pilot of Spantax IB-371/372 saw a light at their altitude appearing to fly opposite traffic during landing approach; tower reported no traffic and the light disappeared after an estimated 10 seconds.p.2
On the return leg to Las Palmas the light reappeared shortly after takeoff and was corroborated by a large number of ground witnesses; it accompanied the aircraft with apparent sporadic ascents and descents.p.2
Discrepancies in distance, color (white, bluish, reddish, red) and size (from a navigation light to magnitude similar to Jupiter) are catalogued in the operative summary.p.2
Observation was made through binoculars yet no shape was resolved at any moment; the ground observations rule out a cabin reflection hypothesis.p.2
More than fifty people witnessed the events; the instructor selected only declarations from the flight crew and aeronautically qualified ground witnesses for the report.p.8
Crew reported lateral distance of about 15 km while ground observers placed it at a maximum of 3 km; the crew described white while ground witnesses described orange.p.8
The medical captain, said to be well-versed in astronomy, ruled out another aircraft, an artificial satellite (too low and too short an arc), and a meteorite (no trail, no loss of brilliance, long duration).p.15
The expediente was declassified to SIN CLASIFICAR on 9 September 1992 at Torrejón by the MOA intelligence officer, with the note that nothing in the content warranted continued CONFIDENCIAL classification.

Verbatim

El Comandante y Segundo Piloto del vuelo SPANTAX IB/371-372 (Las Palmas-Villa Cisneros), cuando se dirigian a tomar tierra, observaron una luz a su altura y, aparentemente, realizando una maniobra de trafico contraria ala suya.
p.2
A su demanda, la torre contesta no tener ningun trafico (el controlador nove la luz).- A los pocos segundos (10 estimados) la luz desapareci6.
p.2
Observaci6n realizada por personal muy cualifi- cado y habituado a observar el espacio a~reo. La gran cantidad de testigos confirma la e x istencia de un fen6meno no habitual.
p.2
No se apreci6 forma en ningun momenta, a pesar de realizarse observa- ciones a trav~s de prismaticos.
p.2
Preae~~aron los hechos que se relatan mas de cincuenta personas pero se han seleccionado unicamente aquellas versiones que proce den de la t~ipulacion del avion y personas con conocimientos aeronauticos y de nivel cultural elevado para ofrecer mayor garantfa.
p.8
En resumen todos vieron el fenomeno y nin guno acierta a dar una explicaci6n razonable por lo que es imposible determinar la naturaleza del mismo.

Most interesting

The expediente survived for more than 24 years under CONFIDENCIAL classification before being released as SIN CLASIFICAR on 9 September 1992 at Torrejón.
An army artillery captain traveling with a convoy roughly 50 km away at the Istmo also reported a large red light near the aircraft, but could not be deposed because he was in Madrid at the time of the inquiry.
The medical captain attached a hand-drawn sketch (page 16) showing the trajectory, an arc of about 5 degrees, that the file preserves as the only graphic of the event.
The flight crew and the airline stewardess complained of sensationalist press coverage and the stewardess stated she intended to seek permission from her company to sue for damage to her professional reputation.

Cross-references

PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Canarias (5 March 1979)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
PDFExpediente, Avistamiento múltiple Barcelona–Huesca–Lérida–Mar Cantábrico (23 February 1971)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Menorca (24 October 1978)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa
PDFExpediente, Avistamiento en Canarias (24 November 1974)Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa

Common questions

What is Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)?: Spanish Air Force expediente 680314 documenting a 14 March 1968 sighting of a luminous object observed from the Spantax IB-371/372 flight and from the ground at Villa Cisneros air base in Spanish Sahara.
What does Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) reveal?: Expediente number 680314, location Villa Cisneros, date listed as 13 March 1968 on the cover and 14 March 1968 in the operative summary. Captain and second pilot of Spantax IB-371/372 saw a light at their altitude appearing to fly opposite traffic during landing approach; tower reported no traffic and the light disappeared after an estimated 10 seconds. On…
Which agency produced Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)?: Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) is a primary-source record from Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa. Its original classification was SIN CLASIFICAR (declassified from CONFIDENCIAL).
When is Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) dated?: Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) is dated 1968-03-14. It was declassified 1992-09-09.
What programs and topics appear in Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)?: Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) references Expedientes OVNI (Ejército del Aire), luminous object, light only, no shape, airliner encounter, ground corroboration and Villa Cisneros.
What does Expediente, Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968) say, in its own words?

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