Expediente — Avistamiento en Villa Cisneros (14 March 1968)

Brief

On the night of 14 March 1968, the commander and second pilot of SPANTAX flight IB/371-372 observed a bright luminous object at their altitude during the approach to Villa Cisneros; the tower confirmed no traffic, and the light extinguished roughly 10 seconds after the query. On the return leg the object reappeared, was independently confirmed by Air Force officers and other personnel on the ground, and accompanied the aircraft for most of the journey before being lost in a stratus layer during descent. More than 50 ground witnesses saw the phenomenon; the investigating Comandante de Aviacion concluded it was impossible to determine the nature of the object. The file was classified CONFIDENCIAL from 1968 and proposed for declassification to SIN CLASIFICAR in September 1992.

Metadata

Agency

Ejército del Aire / Ministerio de Defensa

Release

1968-03-14

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

21 pages

Classification

CONFIDENCIAL (proposed SIN CLASIFICAR 1992)

Tags

nocturnal light, point source, airport proximity, aircraft accompaniment, Spanish Sahara, Villa Cisneros, 1968, SPANTAX IB-371/372

Key points

• The luminous object appeared in two distinct phases: during the approach to Villa Cisneros (disappearing roughly 10 seconds after the crew queried the tower) and again shortly after departure on the return leg, where it accompanied the aircraft for most of the flight.p.2
• The tower controller confirmed no traffic at either point; the Air Traffic Officer logged the anomaly in the tower diary and transmitted a NOTAM-style notification to FIR Canarias when he could not raise traffic information on the 3023.5 Kcs frequency.p.12
• More than 50 ground witnesses saw the phenomenon, though the investigating officer limited the formal record to crew members and personnel with aeronautical knowledge and high educational level for evidentiary reliability.p.8
• Significant discrepancies exist across witness accounts: the crew estimated lateral distance at 15 km while ground observers placed it at a maximum of 3 km; color varied from white (commander) to bluish (second pilot) to reddish-orange (ground observers), turning white as the object moved away.p.2
• An Artillery Captain who had been with a convoy at the isthmus, approximately 50 km from the airport, came forward the next day to report independently observing a large red light near the aircraft as it passed, with no prior knowledge of the airport incident.p.8
• The Medical Captain, formally trained in astronomy, ruled out stars, artificial satellites, and meteors on the basis of the object's sustained brightness, absence of motor noise, continuous non-intermittent light, low apparent orbital altitude, lack of a trail, and an observed arc of only approximately 5 degrees over roughly 3.5 minutes.p.15
• No shape was discerned at any point, even through binoculars; the phenomenon remained a point source throughout every observation.p.2
• The file was classified CONFIDENCIAL on creation; an intelligence officer of the Mando Operativo Aereo proposed reclassification to SIN CLASIFICAR on 9 September 1992 at Torrejon, over 24 years after the incident.p.3

Most interesting

• The object appeared to react to the crew's tower query: the crew asked whether any traffic was present, the tower confirmed none, and the light extinguished roughly 10 seconds later. The intelligence summary identifies this behavioral sequence as the most anomalous element of the case.
• A Medical Captain with formal astronomy training was on the ground and produced a hand-drawn sketch of the object's trajectory from his observation point -- the only declaration in the file accompanied by a graphic (page 16 contains the sketch, largely image-only).
• The flight attendant missed the first sighting and was summoned to the cockpit by the commander on the return leg specifically to witness the light; she observed it for more than an hour before it moved to directly overhead as the aircraft began its descent.
• Despite extensive press coverage, all crew members and airport personnel denied leaking any information to journalists; the flight attendant stated her intention to pursue legal action against whoever was responsible for what she described as false and professionally damaging reports.
• An independent corroboration came from an Artillery Captain 50 km away who volunteered his account the following day without any prior knowledge of the airport incident, describing a large red light near the aircraft as it passed his convoy at the isthmus entrance.
• The Air Force commander who filed the extract-summary noted that the aircraft commander ultimately did not file an incident report on arrival at Las Palmas because he could not rule out the possibility that on the return leg he had been observing a star -- a candid admission that softened the official record even as 50-plus witnesses stood behind a firmer account.