At approximately 1412Z Capt Bowyer asked Jersey Zone controller Paul Kelly if anyone else was seeing the object (at this time only UAP #1 was visible). Kelly replied that he had "nothing really in the area", but called a BAe Jetstream 32 turboprop passenger aircraft of Blue Islands airways (BCI832, Sqk. 7770) cruising at about 250 knots SE-bound past Guernsey en route to Jersey from the Isle of Man. In charge of this aircraft was Capt Patrick Patterson, a pilot with several thousand hours experience (in excess of 2500 hrs in the command seat) who had been flying routes in the Channel Islands area for approximately one year.
Kelly asked: ...in your left, just behind 9 o'clock, can you see anything in that direction?
; Capt.
Patterson, who had overheard the previous exchanges, replied, "I"m having a look, stand by." A minute later the pilot
replied that he could see nothing at all in that position, and at 1413:24 Kelly handed off Blue Island 832 to Jersey
Approach.
However very soon after this at 1414:43 the pilot radioed Jersey Approach, explained the situation and stated that
I've got something about 8 o'clock resembling the description
.
From a point close to the island of Sark (E of Guernsey) n1This is not the exact location recorded by Jersey Air Traffic Controller Paul Kelly in his CAA report, neither is it the location given in the pilot's own CAA report. For discussion see Section 3. the Jetstream pilot looked back over his left shoulder towards Alderney and now saw in his 8 o'clock position what he described in a written report the following day (see Appendix A) as an object fitting Capt. Bowyer's description and having a "yellow/beige" colour, apparently 2000ft below him at about 1500 ft altitude a little to the W or NW of Alderney about 20 NM away.
Subsequent questioning (Appendix B) established that this object appeared "oval" or "oblong" and its outline was very hazy, just a patch of yellow coloration comparable to the paint colour of an Aurigny Trislander fuselage (a bright canary yellow) as seen in hazy conditions at distance. It appeared to be approximately 2 NM to the west of Alderney (visible in outline through haze together with nearby Burhou) and, by comparison with the island, would have had a maximum horizontal dimension of about 0.5 NM (900m; Alderney, in this perspective, would have subtended about 7° in width from 20NM range, indicating a maximum angular width of about 1.3° for the object, or more than twice the apparent diameter of the moon). It did not appear to move.
Visibility was "fairly poor" due to the haze layer below his altitude but the pilot saw this object several times in between brief interruptions due to flight deck duties. After approximately 1 minute he looked back and had lost visual contact.
(see Appendices A and B)