Date:
September 6, 1979
Location: Ingolstadt, Germany
Star-shaped
objects were observed for several nights in September
1979 over the city of Ingolstadt. Since that time members
of MUFON-CES, the German UFO research organization, have
interviewed several flight controllers, a dozen police
officers and numerous other witnesses. They have also
analyzed photographs and radar recordings that where made
on film.
Source:
Illobrand von Ludwiger/MUFON-CES, (1998)
Star-Shaped
Objects Over the City of Ingolstadt
"Star-shaped
objects had not been reported [in Germany] before they
appeared for the first time in September 1979. They were
observed for several nights over the city of Ingolstadt.
Since that time members of MUFON-CES have interviewed
several flight controllers, a dozen police officers and
numerous other witnesses. They have also analyzed photographs
and radar recordings that where made on film.
On
September 6, 1979, at about 9:30 p.m., a TV technician,
Mr. Y. arrived at his home. He lives in the suburbs just
outside of the city of Ingolstadt. A neighbor called his
attention to three bright lights in the sky. These three
large (15 meters) objects hovered at an altitude of about
200 meters, approximately one kilometer away from his
house. Their surface seemed to consist of metal, "like
silver foil". The objects were surrounded by a bright
light with white to yellow-greenish color.
After
a short period of time, one of the objects flew toward
a big cubic shaped billboard. The name of the car company
"AUDI" is displayed on all 4 sides. The cube
is about 450 meters away from Mr. Y's home. The luminous
object stopped about 70 meters above the cube. Witnesses
recognized that the object had 5 points. Two of them pointed
upwards, two pointed downwards and one pointed in flight
direction. Red lights flashed around the points. After
one minute the star shaped object flew back to the two
waiting objects, forming a chain. This chain of lights
then flew toward the billboard, in only 5 seconds, after
which they continued in the direction of the city Eichstaett
(about 25 km away from Ingolstadt). Mr. Y's observation
lasted about five minutes. He called the police station
in Ingolstadt-west as soon as the objects disappeared.
The police had already received 6 or 7 additional calls
from other eyewitnesses that same evening.
At
9:45 p.m. the police officers in Eichstaett observed the
objects, and at 9:53 p.m. police officers in Gunzenhausen
(60 km north-east of Ingoistadt) also reported their sightings.
Six minutes later police officers in Weissenburg (about
40 km north east from Ingoistadt) observed two strange
lights at a high altitude. Eventually, at 10:01 p.m. the
headquarters of the state police in Munich (70 km south
of Ingolstadt) was informed of the sightings.
The
two police officers who had interviewed Mr. Y. were driving
in their patrol car north of Ingoistadt. At 11:02 p.m.
they encountered a 5-pointed luminous object which hovered
at an altitude of 20°, approximately 2 km away. The
object appeared to be the same size as the moon. It had
a yellowish color and continuously showed flashing lights.
One of the police officers Mr. F. later said: "I
was amazed. I didn't believe in the whole mumbo jumbo.
But suddenly that thing was there!"
The
sharp points shone in a bright orange-red color in non-regular
intervals. Meanwhile the interior of the object continuously
radiated as bright as floodlights. The witness got the
impression, that the edges shimmered. The driver tried
to find a better position for an unobstructed observation
and got only a short glimpse of the appearance. Officer
F., however, noticed that some light source on the edges
of the object moved around with a frequency of about 3
Hz. This caused the shimmering of the edges and the flashing
of the points.
The
object could be observed for about 10-15 seconds. When
the patrol car reached a location from where the witnesses
had an unobstructed view, the object had already vanished.
At
11:22 p.m., two other police officers saw two luminous
objects in Schwabach (10 km south of Nurenberg, and 70
km north of Ingolstad*).
Two
days later, on September 9, 1979, the pointed objects
were again in that area. At about 8:30 p.m. witnesses
in the city of Nurenberg observed an 8-pointed object
flying at an altitude of about 1300 meters in a southerly
direction.
One
hour later an oval object flashing red lights and dancing
up and down was seen near Ingolstadt. Police officers
from Ingolstadt again informed the state police headquarters
in Munich. They in turn called the Federal Office for
Air Traffic Control (BSF) in Munich-Riem and ordered the
flight controllers to have a look for "UFO-related
shapes over the area Ingolstadt".
Flight
controller H. had a Cessna 414 on his radar screen which
was located 30 km north of the city Ingolstadt. He asked
the pilot to look for any unusual lights in the sky. The
Cessna had departed at 8:30 p.m. from the Munich Airport
and was on the way to Brussels. Aboard were the owner
of the airplane, Mr. K., and the female pilot. The airplane
flew at an altitude of 3600 meters. At first, the pilot
could not see anything unusual.
Approximately
30 seconds after the call from the flight controller,
she informed the tower in Munich-Riem, that she could
now see several lights rising up from the ground in flight
direction. Soon thereafter she reported very excited that
4 or 5 very bright lights were flying toward her. They
each had 6 points and were yellow-green in color.
The
pilot was very disturbed when she described that the objects
were in front of her cockpit. They held the same speed
and altitude, then changed position from right to left
so fast that she could hardly keep up describing what
was happening. She got the impression that the lights
were "playing" with the Cessna. Sometimes several
objects were out in front, and the next moment they flew
behind the plane, and at one point they circled all around
the airplane.
As
fast as the bright objects appeared, they disappeared
again after about 30 seconds. The two passengers were
so distraught that they had to make a stopover at the
Frankfurt Airport. From there the owner called flight
control in Munich to confirm everything that his pilot
had reported. He explained that he didn't believe in UFO's,
but these observed objects were totally unexplainable
for him.
The
communications between the pilot and Air Traffic Control
Munich was overheard by the military flight control at
Furstenfeldbruck Airport. A police officer who overheard
the conversation, later told his colleagues in Ingolstadt
that the witness account sounded like the sound track
of a science-fiction movie.
The
search and rescue helicopter "Pirol 203" which
was requested by the police from the German Federal Border
Protection, arrived in the area of Ingolstadt at 11:03
p.m. The pilot circled over Ingolstadt until 11:21 p.m.
without discovering any unusual lights in the air.
Subsequently,
the statement for the press, radio and TV, made by the
Bavarian Ministry of the Interior on September 9, 1979,
read as follows:
"Because
of the unusual weather condition at the time in the area
of Ingolstadt, it came to mirages which were caused by
the anti-aircraft fire from the military training area
Hohenfels, and in some cases also by civilian aircraft's
(document 315/79) ".
For
many reasons, this "explanation" is pure nonsense.
But, it is quite understandable, that the administrative
body must offer some explanation to satisfy the growing
public interest. During its investigations the MUFON-CES
members found out how busy the members of the police force
and the Air Traffic Control are during their normal activities.
They don't want to deal with additional stress and strain
caused by real or alleged UFO sighting reports. If the
administrative bodies try to explain away such phenomena,
it may not always be because of a "cover-up",
but perhaps to avoid obstruction of the heavy load of
routine work by something that they can't do anything
about anyway. The same reason may also be true for the
employees of the Air Force in the USA and in Russia. (MUFON-CES
Report No.8, 1981) The reliability index for the Ingolstadt
case is p = 99.99%"
Source:
http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case653.htm