HISTORICAL

Kaikoura lights — A New Zealand TV crew filmed unidentified lights tracking their Argosy cargo plane near Kaikoura. The footage was independently confirmed by Wellington air traffic control radar.

Over several nights in December 1978, pilots flying cargo runs along the east coast of New Zealand's South Island reported unexplained lights tracking their aircraft. On December 21, an Australian television crew aboard a Safe Air Argosy filmed the lights on 16mm colour film, producing one of the most-analysed UFO recordings in Southern Hemisphere history. 【Background】 The Wellington–Christchurch route over Cook Strait and the Kaikoura coast was flown nightly by Safe Air freighters delivering newspapers and produce. Earlier in the month, on December 14, pilots Captain Vern Powell and First Officer Ian Pirie had reported strange lights tracking their plane near Kaikoura, prompting Channel 0/10 Australia to charter a flight specifically to record the phenomenon. 【The Encounter】 The chartered Argosy, carrying reporter Quentin Fogarty and a film crew, departed Wellington shortly after midnight on December 21. Multiple bright objects were sighted from the cockpit and filmed through the windows over a period of about fifty minutes. Wellington and Christchurch air traffic control confirmed simultaneous unidentified radar returns. The objects appeared as lights of varying intensity that approached, paced, and receded from the aircraft. 【Investigation】 The Royal New Zealand Air Force and Bruce Maccabee, a US Navy optical physicist, both conducted analyses. Maccabee's photometric study of the film concluded that several lights could not be explained by squid-boat lights below, planet Venus, or other natural sources, due to their angular size and behaviour. The RNZAF nonetheless cited "unusual atmospheric phenomena" as the most probable explanation. 【Modern Assessment】 Skeptical analysts have argued that Venus, Jupiter, and refracted squid-fishery lights account for many of the visual elements, while concurrent radar returns may reflect atmospheric ducting. The Kaikoura film remains one of the most-studied UFO recordings worldwide and is regularly revisited in academic UAP literature for its combination of multi-channel evidence — film, audio, radar, and pilot testimony — across multiple independent observers. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaikoura_lights

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Source: Wikipedia