Interceptor Pilots, Gendarmes Encounter UFOs
From late 1989 into mid-1990, a spectacular wave of sightings occurred in Belgium. Sightings were reported almost daily from October 1989 through July 1990. Witnesses included police, military and civilian pilots, and air traffic controllers. During part of this period the Belgian Air Force kept interceptors on stand-by status, equipped with infrared video cameras, and the Air Force cooperated with civilian groups in documenting and researching the sightings. In Eupen, Belgium, at 5:24 p.m. on November 29, 1989, hundreds of witnesses observed unidentifiable triangular craft maneuvering overhead. Two police officers in a patrol car were brightly illuminated by a brilliant light beam from a dark triangular object hovering at 600 to 900 feet, making a faint humming noise. The object alternately moved and hovered. One officer said the light was so dazzling "that we could read a newspaper under it." The object moved slowly in the direction of nearby La Gileppe Dam where it hovered for 45 minutes. Then it moved southwest about 13 miles and hovered over the city of Spa for 30 minutes before disappearing.
In June 1990, the Belgian Air Force released a report, including radar-scope photographs, of a 75-minute chase by two F-16 fighters of a UFO over Brussels on the night of March 29/30, 1990. During the chase, both interceptor aircraft detected the UFO on their radar; two ground radar installations also tracked it; and numerous witnesses (including 20 national policemen) observed the triangular object visually. The Air Force report stated:
"[On three occasions during the chase] the pilots managed to get their radars locked on the object, with the immediate result that the object's behavior drastically changed. The object literally played hide and seek with the fighters. It dived toward the ground to evade the airborne and ground radars. Then it climbed back into radar range in a leisurely manner, thus initiating a new chase."
Government files released to the public included a transcript of the conversation between the air traffic controller and the two F-16 pilots during the intercept mission. Excerpts of the transcript, translated into English, were reported by the Mutual UFO Network. The communications indicate highly trained pilots with topflight aircraft and radar, totally frustrated in their attempt to catch the elusive UFO due to its incredible maneuverability and its capability to abruptly change speeds.
(Vague d'OVNI sur la Belgique, Brussels, SOBEPS, 1991. The Belgian sightings were reported extensively in MUFON UFO Journal, especially July 1990, pp. 3-7; February 1992, pp. 5-6; May 1992, pp. 8-12. Paris Match, July 5, 1990; English translation in MUFON UFO Journal, August 1990, pp. 3-7. Wall Street Journal, Oct. 10, 1990, p. 1. Robert Durant, "UFO Intercept," in MUFON UFO Journal, December 1995, pp. 3-8.)