Pilot reports being hit by laser just moments before UFO encounters
An aeroplane pilot reported being hit by a 'laser' just moments before he encountered unidentified flying objects.
The flying instructor, from Wolverhampton airport, was travelling over Gloucestershire when his small aircraft was brightly illuminated.
Moments after the incident, the pilot and his student encountered UFOs, which reportedly consisted of unusual lights.
A spokesman for Air Midwest, which employs the pilot, said: "We are unsure if this event (the laser) is involved with the main event (UFO sighting).
"The pilot believes he may have been under a laser attack from the ground.
"A bright laser-like light illuminated the cockpit. Immediately after this the main lights (UFO) were observed."
Air Midwest, a flying school based at Wolverhampton airport in Bobbington, has been unable to identify the source of the light. Staff members are now wondering if this event was related to the UFO sightings. They are also unsure if the light source was actually a laser, or if it was caused by something else.
The Express & Star reported last week how two Air Midwest flying instructors, and their two students, reported seeing UFOs on the night of February 19. After the flight, one made a report saying he witnessed two UFOs which were 'large, orange and square'.
They were undertaking night navigation training over Gloucestershire when the sightings occurred, after taking off from Wolverhampton airport.
Both events - the UFOs and so-called laser-light - have left staff members at the flying school baffled.
In the 'laser incident', which took place before the UFO sightings, the affected pilot radioed air traffic control after his student raised concerns.
In the conversation to air traffic control, the pilot said: “Apparently there is someone shining lasers at the aircraft from the bottom of the base-downwind leg."
A while later into the flight, the two Air Midwest flying instructors, who were in separate aircraft, spoke about witnessing the UFOs.
One pilot said to the other: "Behind you at your six O'clock, there is something that looks stationery but has got some peculiar lights on it."
As part of Air Midwest's own investigations, staff members trawled logs from Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), which listed airborne events in the area.
Tim Brannon, director of the flying school, told the Express & Star: "There was no airborne activity that remotely the objects we saw.
"This is a massive surprise to us as we expected to find an activity that explained the event.
"So as it stands my guys did see still unexplained objects that one would generally refer to as UFOs."
The incident has drawn interest from around the world and it remains a mystery.
The Air Midwest spokesman added: "We at Air Midwest are still expecting a normal explanation at some point but as yet after investigating, we still cannot find an explanation for what four of our pilots saw that evening."
