Quick Info
On the night of November 11, 1979, a large glowing UFO forced a TAE Supercaravelle commercial flight to divert and make an emergency landing at Valencia’s Manises Airport in Spain. Spanish Air Force scrambled Mirage F1 jets from Los Llanos Air Base to intercept. Pilots reported radar locks and visual contact with a massive object. Ground witnesses at the airport saw it hovering over the runway. The incident lasted hours, involved multiple radar stations, and was officially acknowledged by the Spanish Air Force.
One of the most credible and best-documented UFO pursuits in European history, with official military confirmation and still no rational explanation as to what actually happened. Be sure to check out the video below to hear real audio from Pilot Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada as they were going through this event.
Timeline of Events – November 11, 1979
Reconstructed from Spanish Air Force reports, pilot debriefs, airport logs, witness statements, and declassified documents.
- Evening, November 11, 1979 around 10:30 p.m. TAE Supercaravelle flight from Salzburg to Las Palmas (via Mallorca) is over Valencia airspace. Crew spots bright lights approaching rapidly. They report to Valencia tower. Lights are too fast for any aircraft.
- Around 11:00 p.m. Pilot requests emergency landing at Manises Airport. Tower confirms multiple unidentified targets on radar. Airport closes to all traffic. Lights are seen hovering over the runway, bright enough to illuminate the ground.
- Around 11:30 p.m. Spanish Air Force scrambles two Mirage F1 fighters from Los Llanos Air Base (Albacete). Pilots achieve radar locks on the object. Visual contact confirms a large, round, glowing craft with intense lights.
- Intercept attempt Mirage pilots close in. Object accelerates away at extreme speed, then returns, hovering over Manises. Pilots report it as massive, metallic, with no wings or tail. Radar tracks show impossible maneuvers: instant stops, hypersonic acceleration, right-angle turns.
- Early morning, November 12 UFO eventually departs at high speed. Airport reopens after hours. Multiple ground witnesses (airport staff, police, civilians) confirm the object hovered over the runway for extended periods. No conventional aircraft identified.
- Aftermath & investigation Spanish Air Force investigates. Radar data, pilot reports, and ground sightings collected. No explanation found. Case partially declassified in the 1990s. Officially remains unexplained.
What the Pilots and Witnesses Described
The commercial pilot described a large, bright object approaching head-on at high speed, forcing the diversion. Airport staff saw it hover over the runway, illuminating the area like daylight. Mirage pilots reported radar locks and visual contact: a massive, round, metallic craft with intense lights, no conventional features. It accelerated instantly, hovered, and made maneuvers impossible for any aircraft in 1979.
As if it wasn't crazy enough already, the pilot of the Mirage Fighter Jet, Spanish Air Force captain Fernando Cámara, has stated multiple times that when he got close to the UFO his instuments became scrambled/jammed and his aircraft warnings flashed that it was being locked-on by a continuous wave missile radar effect!
Ground witnesses in Manises and Valencia all reported the same things: a huge glowing object, silent, hovering low, then departing at incredible speed. No sonic booms, no exhaust trail left behind. The sheer consistency across all the pilots, radar operators, and civilians in this case is very striking.
"It was huge, round, glowing brightly. We had radar lock but when we tried to close in, it accelerated away faster than anything we had. It came back, hovered over the airport, then was gone. It wasn't one of ours."
– Mirage F1 pilot (debrief summary)
The pilots were experienced military aviators, they knew every NATO and Soviet aircraft. The object’s speed and maneuvers left them stunned. The fact that it returned to hover over a major airport shows confidence or curiosity, not fear.
"The object hovered over the runway for minutes. It was so bright the whole area was lit up. No sound, no wind. We all saw it. It was massive, metallic, round. Then it just accelerated away."
– Manises airport staff (1979 statement)
Ground witnesses felt the same awe. The object was low enough to illuminate the airport like a spotlight, yet made no noise. That silence at such size and power is what stuck with everyone. No known aircraft in 1979 could do that.
Fantastic video on this event from @MPCFlights on YouTube
More videos from @MPCFlights on YouTube
The Official Response & Investigation
The Spanish Air Force, to their great credit, treated the event very seriously. Mirage jets were scrambled, radar data was collected, and pilot debriefs and statements taken. The commercial flight diversion was officially logged. Ground reports from airport staff and police were also documented.
No conventional explanation was, or has been since 1979, found. The Spanish Ministry of Defence partially declassified files in the 1990s, confirming the sighting and the intercept. No official debunking was ever issued. The incident is still listed as unexplained in Spanish military archives.
Legacy
Thinking about this case still gives me goosebumps. A commercial flight forced to land because of a massive UFO, fighter jets scrambled, pilots and radar operators confirming it, and no one can explain what it was. It happened over major cities and a military base, this wasn’t some remote sighting. I keep wondering: what was it doing there? Testing our response? Observing? Or just passing through? There are always so many questions.
Cases like this remind me of the 1986 Brazil Night of the UFOs, where jets chased multiple objects, or the 1990 Belgian wave with F-16s locking on triangles. All these military pursuits with no answers. What do you think it wanted? Was it showing off, or warning us? Either way, it’s a hell of a story that makes you look up at the sky a little differently.
