"UFO probably a squid fleet off New Zealand, pilot says"
A link
Squids? Can we have some fun with this, or what?
Paging Stray Cat.
The above link points to a short article (less that 300 words) in the Register-Guard, (Ore Wed, Jan, 3, 1979) titled “UFO probably a squid fleet off New Zealand, pilot says”
What the pilot actually said:
"However, some 106 miles east of Christchurch is a very large Japanese squid fleet” Carran said “The squid fleet is visual to the naked eye for 120 miles with the very, very powerful lights they use.”
“Whether or not the lights can reflect in clouds, I just don’t know because the conditions last night were absolutely first class,” Carran said.
“There was little or no cloud cover and visibility was magnificent. We watched Venus come up and change color and that sort of thing she has always done. But we have nothing else to offer I’m afraid,” Carran said."
The first point to note is that the pilot never actually stated what the title of the article says he does.
The second point is that Carran stated “conditions last night were absolutely first class” - as they were on the night of the UFO sightings - AND Carran had NO trouble identifying a Japanese squid fleet - as they are a relatively common sight in the region - so there is no reason to suppose the pilot of the Argosy would not have been able to identify a Japanese squid fleet in similar conditions!
The third point of immediate note is that a squid fleet does not turn on and off its lights - and if anyone has seen such a fleet (an awesomely unforgettable experience I can assure you!), they will know that they light up a very large surrounding area with intensely bright light …so much so that there is simply NO mistaking them for anything other than they what they are!
Dr Maccabee also list 19 reasons why a squid fleet is not a tenable explanation in “THE CASE OF THE FLYING SQUID BOAT”
(
http://brumac.8k.com/NEW_ZEALAND/NZSB.html)
NOTE: This article now talks about the Northbound journey, whereas previously we have been talking about the Southbound leg.
NOTE: the following represent brief
summaries of Dr Maccabee’s points and therefore leave out a great deal of detail and may suffer some loss of accuracy as a result. The reader SHOULD read the article for themselves to see how the points are explored in detail.
1) Experienced crew did not recognise the lights as squid boat lights in spite of 15 minutes continuous straight line observation
2) The air crew was aware that there were Japanese squid fleets fishing in NZ waters, so if the light resembled them in any way, that would have been the first thing they would have attributed the light to. They did not.
3) Ireland searched NZ govt. records and turned up NO evidence of a squid fleet in the area. Squid boats never fish alone (usually they “pair off”) so the single light UFOs are inexplicable under the SB hypothesis.
4) There WAS a squid fleet about 140 miles east of the South Island and one to the north west of the South island. The co-pilot DID note these lights and recognised them for what they were.
5) If there HAD been a squid boat in the area it would have been a strange coincidence to have only turned on its lights after the plane was well up into the air (all the other SBs had already been fishing for some time...)
6) The pilot had the definite impression that the light was at the same level as the plane
7) While visibility was “unlimited” there
was a cloud layer. And the light was first seen as a glow through the cloud tops as the airplane climbed up to and through the layer.
8) When the crew first had a clear view of the UFO they thought at first they were looking at the full moon…until they realised that the moon had set in the west many hours before. A squid boat seen at a distance does not have such an angular size – despite the “brightness” of the surrounding ocean lit by its lights.
9) The crew and passengers had the clear impression that the light was “pacing” the plane. A distant light source CAN give this impression, but given the distance of the flight and the location of the squid fleets it would soon have become apparent that the plane was moving in relation to them, particularly if they had been located where Ireland and Andrews had them.
10) Analysis of the film compared with the know light output of squid boats meant that to produce the images seen, any SBs must have been within 40nm. Dr Maccabee states:
“In other words, the image brightness data, coupled with known SB brightness, suggests a location within the 40 nm arc on Figure 1 and argues against the locations suggested by Philip J. Klass in correspondence with me (and published in his book, "UFOS THE PUBLIC DECEIVED"...which was aptly named, because he deceived the public).”
11) The shape of the images on the film rules out SBs
12) (Not sure about this point) After some detailed analysis Dr Maccebee states:
“Thus, this brightness increase is at least qualitatively consistent with the SBH, but it is also consistent with any hypothesis in which the airplane got closer to the object as it flew along.”. I think it is actually making the point that for the brightness increase, the SB must have come within 12nm from the plane…and clearly there were no SBs that close.
13) There are 908 frames of continuous filming where the light displays a peculiar green light that protrudes from the side of the round image, which also changes in amplitude. This is definitely not consistent with lights from a SB.
14) The pilot turned the plane to put its nose toward the light …and found he could not do it! After 92 degrees of turn he gave up. This indicated that the “light” reacted to the plane so that it could not come toward it directly.
15) In a “free recall” interview after the event the co-pilot stated the position of the light after the failed attempt to turn toward it. The co-pilot had a good reference point by which to judge the location (the Le Bons Beacon on the Banks Peninsular). This location ruled out Klass’ positioning of the SB.
16) In the same interview the co-pilot stated he could also see the position of the squid fleet on the horizon. He stated that the SBs were a “brilliant white” whereas the “light” was “more orange”.
17) The co-pilot noted that the light “kept station” during the (left hand) turnand remained on the right side of the plane even after the turn. This would have been an extraordinary rate of speed for a SB!
18) Photos of SBs show reflections of the water. The light showed no such reflections.
19) There was a reflection on the water noted by the reporter, but this reflection was seen with a large gap between the light and the reflection as if a light was shining on the sea from high above.
This last point gave rise to the “Flying Squid Boat” comment!.
