Wearside UFO is spotted within feet of a jet.
Investigators remain baffled after more sightings emerged today of
an unidentified flying object over Wearside. The five-foot
pear-shaped piece of silver metal was first spotted hurtling
towards the ground by trainee teacher Jenny Cook in Hendon on
Tuesday morning. Police launched an inquiry following the report
by the 18-year-old Sunderland University student but, despite a
ground search of the area, failed to find any trace of the object.
The Echo has now learnt that officials at Newcastle Airport were
alerted after a similar sighting three hours later above Penshaw.
Ron Atwill spotted a mysterious five-foot long grey object
narrowly miss a passenger jet as it made its descent towards
Newcastle Airport, while walking his dog near the old Herrington
Colliery site.
Mr Atwill, a retired prison service worker, saw the object at
11.45am. He said: "I was looking up as a passenger jet was flying
quite low in the distance on a flight path between the colliery
and Penshaw Monument and I saw this thing almost hit it. I rang
the airport because this thing appeared that close and I thought
they might have spotted it as well. It was about 20ft away from
the plane. "It looked exactly the way it was described in the
Echo. It was a silvery grey in colour and from where I was
standing it looked very flat, pear shaped and about four to five
feet long. "I watched it for a little while and then turned away
and took my eye off it and it had disappeared. It almost looked
like it was standing still, moving very slowly earthbound towards
Sunderland.
If you can imagine a piece of corrugated iron, but not corrugated
and oblong." Speculation has included suggestions that the metal
could be debris from a plane or a metal chunk from a decaying
Pegasus satellite, which Nasa officials have warned is in the
process of breaking up and falling to earth. Other theories
include that the object could have been a model aircraft,
advertising balloon, or even plastic sheeting. Mr Atwill, 64, of
Elm Place, Newbottle, added: "I hadn't a clue what it was and I
didn't want to say anything, because of what people might think.
"But I definitely saw something. It wasn't a speck in the sky. It
was big enough to make out even though it was a bit in the
distance, but now I am beginning to think what was it? I thought
it must have been something dropping out of the sky.
I wasn't imagining it. I should know, I was there. It wasn't a
weather balloon or a model." A spokeswoman for Newcastle Airport
said the pilot on board the jet had reported no sightings to air
traffic controllers. Detective Inspector John Watts, of Sunderland
City Centre Police, said: "We had a report of a strange object in
the skies about the size of a small car. We couldn't find anything
but it has been reported to the relevant authorities." Roger
Mallett, an independent paranormal investigator, said: "It is more
than likely they saw something which they can't rationally explain
and they don't know who to turn to. The fact that two independent
people did, adds more credibility and if more come forward, even
in two or three weeks' time, will certainly add even more weight.
