Captain Peter Telling, flying a Grand Commander aircraft at an altitude of 10,000 feet over the Ohura Beacon area, thought he had a fire then his starboard engine. “A fire in an engine of this type of aircraft would be disastrous”, he said, so he looked very carefully to assess what was happening. His flight position was 157° radial from Ohura Beacon. About 30 yards from the aircraft was a ball of intense bluish-white light - much like a welding arc - that was 20-40 feet in diameter, and stayed with his aircraft for about 20 to 25 seconds. The automatic direction finding compass and both the gyroscopic and magnetic compasses went haywire and spun at a speed of about 12 revolutions per minute. All directional equipment remained non-functional until he passed over the Wanganui area.
He stated that many of his colleagues had had similar experiences, but preferred not to talk about them. He stated that his co-pilot was prepared to confirm his account of the sighting.
He also stated that during the last week in April, he saw a further high-flying light that was changing colour and traveling in a west-east direction, contrary to that of satellites. Its colour was changing from orange to green and blue. Once again his co-pilot was willing to support the account of this sighting.
(Capt. Telling was known as Radio I’s ‘Peter T.’ and was a pilot 3 days a week, a well as a radio host.)
Source: Extract from ‘Spaceview’ No 65, 1973
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