1977: Portuguese Air Force Pilots Alarming UFO Encounter

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1977: Portuguese Air Force Pilots Alarming UFO Encounter
Posted On: April 15, 2022

The year is 1977, the place, Near the Castelo de Bode dam, Portugal. A 23 year old pilot of the Portuguese Air Force 31st Squadron had an alarming close encounter with a UFO.


On June 17th, 1977 at about 12:00 hours, Jose Francisco Rodrigues, a twenty-three-year-old pilot of the Portuguese Air Force 31st Squadron, based at Tancos, was flying his Domier 27 light aircraft.


At this time the weather was poor, with intermittent rain and a cloud ceiling of less than 3000 feet. Visibility was about five miles. Sergeant Rodrigues was flying over the Castelo de Bode dam when suddenly, emerging from the clouds, he saw a dark object against a backdrop of white stratocumulus, slightly to the right of his plane. Thinking that the object was perhaps a cargo plane he banked to the left and immediately radioed to ask if there was any traffic in the vicinity. A reply came in the negative. As the young pilot completed a turn to port, the unknown object suddenly appeared at his 11 o’clock position "no more than six meters away."


It was definitely not a cargo plane. The upper section, partially concealed by cloud, was black, and on the lower section there appeared to be four or five "panels." The object was approximately thirteen to fifteen meters in diameter. Suddenly it accelerated and vanished from what the pilot believes was an initial stationary position.


The Domier began to vibrate violently and went into an uncontrolled dive. Struggling to regain control. Sergeant Rodrigues pushed the control column forward. Airspeed increased to 140 knots, then 180 knots as the ground came nearer. Control was fortunately regained when almost "touching the tree tops" and the plane was landed in one piece, with a badly shaken pilot.


During the encounter the directional electric gyroscope (connected to a magnetic compass) rotated wildly, and by the time the plane landed it had deviated by 180° relative to the magnetic compass.


Sergeant Jose Vicente Saldanha, the duty controller that day, confirmed Rodrigues’ radio call and that about a minute later he heard a loud shout. The base is about five kilometers from the dam above which the incident occurred, but owing to hills and poor visibility nothing was seen from the tower.


However, the pilot spoke with two witnesses (presumably from another area of the base) who saw the plane falling in a "dead-leaf" pattern, then disappearing from view. They also heard the engine roaring as the pilot regained control.


Such was Sergeant Rodrigues’ state of shock when he landed that he had difficulty speaking. An examination by the base doctor revealed no untoward medical cause that might have accounted for his condition, and the duty controller felt certain that a simple engine problem would not have upset the pilot to such a degree. Nor could any fault be found with the engine.


The Portuguese Air Force Chief of Staff eventually (and reluctantly) allowed veteran researchers Jose Garrido and Vitor Santos to interview both the pilot and controller. Their conclusions were as follows:


As Sergeant Rodrigues completed his 315° turn . . . with a large radius, the object reappeared to his left "at 11 o’clock" and very close.


It is hard to decide . . . whether the object moved or not during the 40 seconds that the plane took to complete the turn, although the original [report] conveys that idea.


At any rate, during his second glimpse Sergeant Rodrigues thought that the object was motionless, or practically so, and then accelerated and departed. In either case this implies a series of maneuvers by the object, including an anomalous acceleration which . . . rules out . . a balloon or a conventional machine.


No official explanation for the incident was offered by the Air Force.


My Take: This one is short and terrifying for the pilot. Another unknown aircraft flying that close to him without any warning. Was it a secret military craft? Or something more exotic. Hard to tell.


Resources: Above Top Secret, Timothy Good, 1988



[BACK]
1977: Portuguese Air Force Pilots Alarming UFO Encounter
Posted On: April 15, 2022

The year is 1977, the place, Near the Castelo de Bode dam, Portugal. A 23 year old pilot of the Portuguese Air Force 31st Squadron had an alarming close encounter with a UFO.


On June 17th, 1977 at about 12:00 hours, Jose Francisco Rodrigues, a twenty-three-year-old pilot of the Portuguese Air Force 31st Squadron, based at Tancos, was flying his Domier 27 light aircraft.


At this time the weather was poor, with intermittent rain and a cloud ceiling of less than 3000 feet. Visibility was about five miles. Sergeant Rodrigues was flying over the Castelo de Bode dam when suddenly, emerging from the clouds, he saw a dark object against a backdrop of white stratocumulus, slightly to the right of his plane. Thinking that the object was perhaps a cargo plane he banked to the left and immediately radioed to ask if there was any traffic in the vicinity. A reply came in the negative. As the young pilot completed a turn to port, the unknown object suddenly appeared at his 11 o’clock position "no more than six meters away."


It was definitely not a cargo plane. The upper section, partially concealed by cloud, was black, and on the lower section there appeared to be four or five "panels." The object was approximately thirteen to fifteen meters in diameter. Suddenly it accelerated and vanished from what the pilot believes was an initial stationary position.


The Domier began to vibrate violently and went into an uncontrolled dive. Struggling to regain control. Sergeant Rodrigues pushed the control column forward. Airspeed increased to 140 knots, then 180 knots as the ground came nearer. Control was fortunately regained when almost "touching the tree tops" and the plane was landed in one piece, with a badly shaken pilot.


During the encounter the directional electric gyroscope (connected to a magnetic compass) rotated wildly, and by the time the plane landed it had deviated by 180° relative to the magnetic compass.


Sergeant Jose Vicente Saldanha, the duty controller that day, confirmed Rodrigues’ radio call and that about a minute later he heard a loud shout. The base is about five kilometers from the dam above which the incident occurred, but owing to hills and poor visibility nothing was seen from the tower.


However, the pilot spoke with two witnesses (presumably from another area of the base) who saw the plane falling in a "dead-leaf" pattern, then disappearing from view. They also heard the engine roaring as the pilot regained control.


Such was Sergeant Rodrigues’ state of shock when he landed that he had difficulty speaking. An examination by the base doctor revealed no untoward medical cause that might have accounted for his condition, and the duty controller felt certain that a simple engine problem would not have upset the pilot to such a degree. Nor could any fault be found with the engine.


The Portuguese Air Force Chief of Staff eventually (and reluctantly) allowed veteran researchers Jose Garrido and Vitor Santos to interview both the pilot and controller. Their conclusions were as follows:


As Sergeant Rodrigues completed his 315° turn . . . with a large radius, the object reappeared to his left "at 11 o’clock" and very close.


It is hard to decide . . . whether the object moved or not during the 40 seconds that the plane took to complete the turn, although the original [report] conveys that idea.


At any rate, during his second glimpse Sergeant Rodrigues thought that the object was motionless, or practically so, and then accelerated and departed. In either case this implies a series of maneuvers by the object, including an anomalous acceleration which . . . rules out . . a balloon or a conventional machine.


No official explanation for the incident was offered by the Air Force.


My Take: This one is short and terrifying for the pilot. Another unknown aircraft flying that close to him without any warning. Was it a secret military craft? Or something more exotic. Hard to tell.


Resources: Above Top Secret, Timothy Good, 1988



1977: Portuguese Air Force Pilots Alarming UFO Encounter

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