THE LUFOINREGISTER©

Published by The Leicestershire UFO Research Society (Est. 1971)

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An initial telephone report received on Friday, August 24^th., 2012, from Mrs. ‘K‘ in Barwell, began this particular investigation. The case is of interest insomuch as it was eventually discovered to involve the multi-witness viewing of a relatively newly introduced type of model helicopter, i.e. a quad copter. It is felt that the case offers some valuable instruction regarding how easy it is, due to the unfamiliarity of model quad copters in the public domain, to mistake ordinary, everyday events, as something far more unusual. This in mind, and also due to the amount of general interest the case generated on the internet once it was published in the newspapers, (See for example: Additional Links), the decision was made to outline the event in a little more detail than hitherto.

The Event - Initial Report - Mrs. K, Fairacre Road, Barwell, Leicestershire.

“At 8.45 p.m., my Husband was on his way to work in Hinckley in the car. He phoned me to say ‘go outside and see if you can see what I’m seeing in the sky, over towards Hinckley’. I went and stood at the end of the drive and I could see a bright blue light in the sky as I looked down my road, (Fairacre Road, Barwell), towards the south-west, towards Hinckley. My 3 children, (aged 11, 13 and 19 years) also came outside to look. We all saw a blue light in the sky that made no sound, but would occasionally, briefly turn red or white, and sometimes when it changed colour, it appeared slightly bigger and brighter. The object made some very precise movements, such as left to right and then back again, zig zagging across the sky and at one point, it dropped vertically very quickly. Considering the height that this object was at, the movements it was able to make and the speed it travelled, these actions were unlike any manoeuvres that I had previously witnessed with regard to the movement of toy planes etc., although my Husband said later, that it could have been something like this due to the fact that he used to have a model helicopter with a bright blue led light on it. The object was not in view constantly, but would ‘blink out’ occasionally for up to approximately a minute at a time, only to re-appear in another part of the sky, near to where it had disappeared. My Son started to film it using the i Pad, and he managed to get some film of it before the i pad stopped working. My daughter tried to phone her friend down the road to tell her to come and have a look, but her mobile did not connect. I also tried to film the object on my mobile, but I just kept getting an ‘error’ message. We all tried these things at the same time, but after the incident was over, when we got back in the house, everything worked perfectly fine. Two teenage boys had been standing behind us watching the object also, and also trying to film it using their mobiles. After they left, two other young men came along. When I commented on what we were watching, one of them told us that he had seen the object in Hinckley a short while ago. He had been in the Swallows Green area when he saw it, but he had been quite near it, and said that the object was seen to drop down and get larger, and that it was making a noise similar to an electric fan. He was visibly shaken, and said that the sighting had un-nerved him at the time. All in all, we stood and watched the spectacle for around 45 minutes, until the object blinked out from view for about 30 seconds. It was then followed by a very bright, and much larger, golden - coloured light which travelled across the sky from left to right for a few seconds. This secondary object then also blinked out. Whether or not this second light was connected in any way to the blue object, I obviously have no way of knowing. We waited around for about 5 minutes after this, to see if anything else was going to happen, but by then, as all activity appeared to be over, we went back into the house. My Husband said later that he could see the object nearly all the way to his place of work in Hinckley.”

The following Thursday’s edition of the paper thereby carried the following article: Mysterious lights in sky over Burbage "drain phone batteries” .

FLABBERGASTED residents around the borough watched as a strange mix of multi-coloured lights shone over Burbage Common and drained their phone batteries. The bizarre incident last Thursday (August 23) night saw a number of people living in Burbage, Barwell and Earl Shilton call the Hinckley branch of the Leicestershire UFO Investigation Network to report what they had seen. Many of the witnesses’ phone batteries died while they were trying to film the spooky phenomena, leaving some to wonder if the lights wanted to be seen. A spokesman for the Hinckley branch said that checks so far had failed to show there were any aircraft in the area at the time. The bright blue light was described hovering silently above the park for more than 45 minutes before coming lower and releasing streams of various different coloured lights. It was then joined by a bright golden light, which glowed, came low in the sky and then shot away at speed. “It was really weird,” said Joanne Smith, of Fairacre Road, Barwell. “I tried hard to film it but my phone just kept switching off. I checked afterwards and it was fine - the battery level showed full. “We watched it from about 8.45pm until 9.30pm and at the last minute the object just seemed to have just dissolved on the spot.” A resident from Burbage, who did not want to be named, also saw his phone shut off after attempting to film for a few seconds. He said: “I could hear a faint humming noise but it was totally unlike a helicopter engine sound or a normal aircraft sound. “It was definitely something strange, it was so bright, several other people were watching it with me.”

From information gathered, it was eventually discovered that an illuminated quad copter had also been on trial in the Burbage Common complex of Hinckley, at precisely the same time as the Hinckley sightings were occurring, and confusion arose thereby as to what each particular set of witnesses had seen. However, due to information received from certain witnesses residing in Elmesthorpe, near both Barwell, Earl Shilton and Burbage, investigators were later able to understand that two separate incidents had occurred involving the use of quad copters, and coincidently, they had taken place at precisely the same moment in time, at two separate geographical points. Precise information from both sets of witnesses, involving complete knowledge of the fact that the ‘UFOs’ were in reality, quad copters, was eventually forthcoming, with one witness claiming to have actually spoken to one of the Swallows Green operators.

Mr. ‘R’ - 20:40 - August 23^rd., 2012 - Barwell Lane, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

Male witness reported that both himself and three other members of his family were travelling by car along Barwell Lane, when they observed a blue light in the sky. On stopping the car to get a better view, they observed a reasonably small aerial object (approximately 2 feet in diameter), that apparently had bright blue steady lights or ‘strips’ along its sides. Object was in view for approximately 10 minutes, during which time it was seen to make several unusual manoeuvres in the sky. The object was stated as never being particularly high up, and made a ‘buzzing sound, similar to an electric razor. Several attempts to film the object using mobile phones were made, but all attempts however, failed with the phones automatically switching off.

Mr. and Mrs. ‘B’ - 20:45 - August 23^rd., 2012 - Harwood Drive, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

A married Burbage couple were in Harwood Drive in order to view a car that was for sale when they saw a blue light in the sky only a few feet away from their position. They observed that the blue light was one of two which were attached to a type of model helicopter with which they were not acquainted. The unknown ‘craft’ appeared to be hovering, together with moving back and forth over a nearby playing field. It was making a noise similar to an electric fan. The couple went into the park to see the model at close range, and spoke to the man who was holding a remote control device. A remark was passed to the man that the object looked like a ‘UFO’, and it could be expected to generate a few reports. The man agreed. The couple watched the device, which apparently also had red and white lights attached which flashed, and was around 3 feet in diameter, for about 5 minutes, before they both went about their business.

Mr. ‘L’ - 21:05 - August 23^rd., 2012 - Elmesthorpe Lane, Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire.

A male witness and his friend were looking towards the Burbage Common complex, Hinckley, admiring the clear dusk conditions, when they saw a blue and red object hovering low above trees. Intrigued, thinking that the object looked strange, the men drove towards the common and parked up on the visitors car park. From their vantage point, the men were able to observe two young men in hoods, apparently holding a remote control device which flashed green, and seemingly controlling a nearby model aircraft that had the ability to both hover, and circle the nearby field. Object itself appeared to be about 2-3 feet in diameter, and had extremely bright blue and red static lights attached to it. At one point, a bright yellow tube-like device was observed to be dropped from the model and then land in the field and disappear. The object was making ‘typical model helicopter noises’ whilst in view. After 10 minutes, Mr. ‘C’ and his friend drove away from the area.

Mr. ‘S’ - 21:20 - August 23^rd., 2012 - Laneside Drive, Hinckley, Leicestershire.

A family of four were travelling by car along Laneside Drive, Hinckley, when they observed a small, model-sized object hovering above houses in the same road. The car was stopped and attempts were made to film the object using a small digital camera. No image was captured on the camera which for no explainable reason ‘cut-off’ after a few seconds. The object was thought to be a model aircraft of some kind.

8 September 2012 - Mystery over blue UFOs now 'solved' - Leicester Mercury.

The society's spokesman Graham Hall, who lives in the town, said that, after considering evidence from 35 witnesses, he was fairly convinced the sightings could be explained by people using quad copters. He said: "It's becoming clear that what was spotted in the skies that night was something quite explainable. "We are reliably informed the object that caused all the fuss on this occasion was a large model quad copter. "They are relatively new but basically they're model helicopters with four small rotor supports arranged in a cross shape. "They can have bright lights attached to them and can look very strange as they hover and circle in the night sky." He did not think the operators of the quad copter were trying to set up any kind of UFO hoax. Graham said: "There were 35 witnesses who saw the objects and we think there could have been two lots of people flying two separate quad copters in different parks, but it all sounds like a coincidence rather than a calculated hoax.".

51/12/34 - CASE CLOSED: Quad Copter... (IFO:6C).

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All opinions expressed and/or recorded within the LUFOIN REGISTER, are not necessarily those of LUFORS, the Leicestershire Unidentified Flying Object Investigation Network, or its members. Originally established in 1971, network members the Leicestershire Unidentified Flying Object Research Society, are a non-profit making organisation run by volunteers and funded totally by donation. All monies received are directly used towards private UFO investigation and research work conducted within the U.K. regional counties of Leicestershire and Warwickshire. The LUFOIN Register Supersedes Original Reduced Format CD-ROM Version Internally Published In Spring, 2011, as Volume One of The LUFORS Digital Database. Corrections etc. E-Mail the Editor at: Lufoin@gmail.com.

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