CASE HISTORY

The Manises UFO Incident

A Close Encounter at 28,000 Feet

On November 11th, 1979, one of the most famous and perplexing UFO incidents in European aviation history took place over Spain. Known as the Manises UFO incident, this event involved an unidentified flying object that forced a commercial airliner to make an emergency landing at Manises Airport, near Valencia. More than four decades later, the case remains unresolved, fueling speculation and even government investigations.

The Incident

The Manises UFO encounter occurred during a routine flight by TAE (Transportes Aéreos Españoles) Flight JK-297, a Super Caravelle aircraft en route from Salzburg, Austria, to Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, with a scheduled stop in Madrid. Captain Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada, an experienced pilot, was in command, accompanied by a full crew and 109 passengers on board.

At approximately 11:00 PM, while flying over the Mediterranean Sea near the coast of Valencia, the crew noticed a series of intense red lights appearing to follow the aircraft. The lights were so close that Captain Lerdo de Tejada initially suspected they belonged to another aircraft on a collision course. However, air traffic control in Barcelona confirmed that no other aircraft were in the vicinity.