Name: ***
Email: ********@zoho.eu
City: Manchester
Date: Jan 2019
Location: Stalybridge
Message:
Hello, I've only just stumbled upon your website and I'm very impressed both in its' organisation and content. I wondered if you would be interested in my story which involves strange lights in the sky in the Manchester area. I have always had an interest in UFOs and thought I would never witness anything myself but my sighting is annoying me because I cannot find a rational explanation for it. I'm not saying I saw an extraterrestrial craft but until I get a satisfactory explanation I'll regard it as a true UFO.
I have tried to get 2 UFO groups interested, such that they might have more knowledge and offer some explanation but I've been disappointed that they do not acknowledge my emails or post my story. Hopefully you will take more of an interest and maybe you know someone that can give a rational explanantion.
Firstly to set the scene, my sighting occurred in Stalybridge, Cheshire about 8 miles to the east of Manchester as the crow flies and approx 13 miles from Manchester Airport.
Stalybridge is on the main approach path to the airport. If you had a map and drew a line from the runway (termed Runway 23 as it lies on compass heading 230 degrees) then the line would cross Stalybridge, Dukinfield, Hyde, Stockport etc. as the plane descends to the runway. So I have many aircraft sightings per day as the aircraft come in to land. I would guess they are around 2000 to 3000 ft above me at their closest point which means in daylight I can see if the undercarriage is down, the cabin windows and the airline motif on the tail and sometimes the underbelly insignia. At nightime I am familiar with commonly displayed lights ie. red and green on wingtips, white landing lights and also flashing white strobes.
So now to the story :-
In January 2019 , just over a year ago, (and I apologise for not having the exact date and time) I was walking along Acres Lane in Stalybridge at approx 8pm at night. It would have been one of the last 2 weeks in January ie. weeks commencing Mon 21st Jan and Mon 28th Jan. It would have been a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday night. It was obviously dark at that time, the weather was fine but cool, good visibilty.
On my left side was the Tesco store , on my right was Staylbridge Labour Club and a little further on was the now disused Reporter newspaper office.
An aircraft was coming in to land and I paused for a few seconds to watch it pass overhead. As I turned to continue my walk I noticed 3 lights at a distance. The lights were in a horizontal line, equally spaced out and it was my first estimation that this was another aircraft on its approach.
From its angle it looked like it was going to have to bank to its left to get on the normal approach path and when I saw the left light, (that is viewed from my perspective) start to rise I assumed this was the maneuver it was commencing. However the lights, still in a line but now with the left and centre lights above the right hand light, continued to bank. I thought well thats some angle of bank for a passenger aircaft... the passengers must be nearly on their side.
What made it strange was that the lights continued their banking until the lights were then 3 lights in a vertical line. It was then that I began to think no passenger aircraft would perform that maneuver. Also the lights were strange in that usually the lights I normally see are a yellowish white, but these were a bluish white a bit like the high intensity halogen bulbs. They did not produce any beam but were easily visible and I'd say a little larger than the landing lights I was familiar with. There were no red/green steady lights or flashing lights either, only these 3 bluish white lights. I continued to watch the 3 lights and they appeared to be descending still all in vertical straight line.
The lower light then moved more to the left and extinguished; this was followed in sequence by the other 2 lights. My assumption was that the had either all been moving to my left and had now been obscured by a hill in the distance or they had all in turn turned to "their" right quite abruptly and were now no longer flying towards to me but now at right angles to me. They did not reappear and I was left wondering what it was I had seen. Because of the sequence of blinking out I assumed I had really been looking a 3 discrete objects rather than 3 lights affixed to the same solid structure.
Over the next few days I kept thinking about the sighting and wondered if maybe it was 3 helicopters on a training exercise. However I don't know if such helicopters would be excused from displaying navigation lights and would it be wise for them to be in an area which was on the Manchester airport approach?
You can view a map of the area concerned by searching postcode of Stalybridge Labour Club SK15 2JR which was my observation point. I would estimate I was looking approx between 120 degrees and 90 degrees at the start of the sighting which puts the general direction as Tintwistle - Crowden - Woodhead, but I don't have a feel for exactly how far away the lights would be.
I did think of opening FOI request to ask MOD if there were any exercise taking place on those dates and if helicopters or other aircraft had to display conventional navigation lights.
Maybe you know the answers to what might just display a solid pale blue light and nothing else. I did ask a helicopter pilot (civilian) for his opinion and all he could come up with was drones. But realistically I cannot see the distance involved and the size of the lights and the ability to keep flying in a tight formation would be possible with a drone. Anyway I least I've logged it with you.
If you wish to pass it on to other groups please feel free. I would estimate when I last saw them, depending on the actual distance from me, the lights would have been heading in a north westerly direction - perhaps in the general direction of Oldham/Rochdale. I don't believe there were any other witnesses to this sighting.
