Topic
Civilian, police and airline reports, from single witnesses to mass sightings seen by thousands. 258 events, newest first.
Sightings2 Jul 2017
Gatwick Airport said a reported drone near the airfield led it to suspend runway operations twice in one evening, briefly each time, causing go-arounds and diversions of several easyJet and British Airways flights. Police investigated. It preceded the far larger December 2018 shutdown.
Photo: Robin Webster, CC BY-SA 2.0
Sightings29 Jun 2017
A NASA sounding rocket launched from Wallops before dawn released blue-green and red vapor tracers to test a new canister system. The glowing clouds were seen from New York to North Carolina, and NASA received nearly 2,000 reports and photos.
Photo: NASA/Terry Zaperach (Wallops Flight Facility), Public domain
Sightings6 Feb 2017
A bright green fireball seen by hundreds of people around Lake Michigan at 1:25 a.m. CST was identified by NASA as an asteroid fragment of at least 600 pounds that broke apart over the lake. Weather radar tracked falling fragments, and police dash cams recorded it.
Sightings10 Nov 2016
A metal cylinder about 4.5 m long fell on a jade-mining site in Hpakant, Kachin State, and a smaller piece with Chinese writing pierced a house roof; no one was hurt. State media said it might be satellite or missile parts, and experts linked it to a Chinese Long March 11 launched the day before.
Photo: Arezarni, CC BY-SA 3.0
Sightings17 Apr 2016
The pilot of a British Airways A320 arriving from Geneva reported that an object, believed to be a drone, struck the front of the aircraft on approach to Heathrow. The plane landed safely and Metropolitan Police aviation officers opened an investigation.
Photo: Jeremy Segrott from Cardiff, Wales, UK, CC BY 2.0
Sightings18 Mar 2016
A Lufthansa A380 crew approaching Los Angeles International at about 5,000 feet reported a drone passing roughly 200 feet above the jet, 14 miles out. The FAA notified Los Angeles police, whose air unit did not find the drone; the plane landed safely.
Photo: Glenn Beltz from Goleta, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0
Sightings19 Feb 2016
An Air France A320 from Barcelona descending toward Charles de Gaulle met a drone the captain estimated passed about five meters from the left wing; the co-pilot flew a manual avoidance. France's BEA classed it as a serious incident and opened an investigation.
Photo: Benoit Prieur, CC0
Sightings2016
UK Airprox Board figures show near-miss reports involving drones, balloons, model aircraft and unidentified small objects rose from 40 in 2015 to 94 in 2016, then a record. The board notes pilots often see such objects only fleetingly, so many are logged simply as unknown objects.
Sightings27 Nov 2015
Ten Desert Fireball Network cameras recorded a fireball over South Australia. An aircraft spotted a 60 cm mark in the mud of Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre South near the predicted fall line, and on Dec. 31, 2015 a team dug the meteorite out from 42 cm down, the digital network's first recovered fall.
Photo: Rmhowie, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings7 Sep 2015
A bright fireball crossed the sky over Bangkok around 8:40 am and was filmed by many dashboard cameras, prompting rumors of a downed aircraft. A Thai observatory astronomer said it was a meteor burning up, and officials in Nakhon Ratchasima called off a crash search.
Sightings2 Sep 2015
A night fireball filmed over Bingol province broke up and rained stones on the village of Saricicek. Scientists documented 343 stones, the first recorded fall of a howardite, a meteorite type linked to the asteroid Vesta.
Sightings10 Aug 2015
A volunteer group, the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, released an analysis of the 2013 Aguadilla infrared video arguing a wind-borne object could not explain it. In 2025 AARO assessed with moderate confidence that the objects were sky lanterns.
Photo: Miguelpr91 at English Wikipedia, Public domain
Sightings20 Jul 2015
The crew of a Lufthansa Embraer 195 from Munich reported a black object, possibly a drone, passing within about 100 meters of the jet at 760 meters on approach to Warsaw. The plane landed safely; police questioned a local drone owner but brought no charges.
Photo: PerpetualTraveler, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings24 Feb 2015
On two straight nights, unidentified drones were seen over Paris sites including the Eiffel Tower, the U.S. Embassy and the Interior Ministry. Police opened an investigation; a government spokesman said hobbyists were the likely operators.
Photo: Getfunky Paris, CC BY 2.0
SightingsOct 2014
EDF said unidentified drones flew over seven of its French nuclear sites between Oct. 5 and Oct. 20, 2014, mostly at night. Each plant filed a police complaint and the interior minister said a judicial investigation was under way; no operator was named.
Photo: Raimond Spekking, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings22 Jul 2014
An A320 crew on short final to Heathrow reported a small black object pass about 20 feet over the wing at 700 feet. The UK Airprox Board judged it a suspected radio-controlled model helicopter and rated the risk Category A, its highest; the operator was never traced.
Photo: Thomas Nugent, CC BY-SA 2.0
Sightings22 Mar 2014
A US Airways regional jet descending toward Tallahassee at about 2,300 feet reported nearly hitting a small drone; the pilot thought it had struck the plane. FAA official Jim Williams disclosed the case in May 2014. The drone's type and operator were not identified.
Photo: The Bushranger, CC BY-SA 4.0
Sightings17 Jan 2014
Chinese researchers published the first spectrum of natural ball lightning, recorded by chance on the Qinghai Plateau in July 2012. It showed silicon, iron and calcium, supporting the idea that vaporized soil feeds the glow. Ball lightning is often offered as a UAP explanation.
Photo: Olli Niemitalo, CC0
SightingsJan 2014
Robert Theriault, Friedemann Freund and colleagues reviewed historical reports of lights seen before or during earthquakes and found most came from rift settings, proposing an electrical mechanism. Freund noted that such lights have at times been taken for UFOs.
Photo: Friedrich Konzelmann, Public domain
Sightings25 Apr 2013
An infrared camera on a U.S. Customs and Border Protection aircraft over Rafael Hernandez Airport filmed objects that seemed to race and enter the sea. Private analysts argued it was anomalous; in 2025 AARO said the objects likely were two sky lanterns drifting with the wind over land.
Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Erniefr&action=edit, Public domain
