Source: IIEE CHILE
Date: December 11, 2023
Chile: LAN Airliner Captain Recalls UFO Experience
[NOUFA - Noticiero Ufológico Autónomo - The 1982 experience of pilot Carlos Parada, published by Cristian Riffo in "La Tercera" (1995)]
"It was like the disc of the moon. It was silvery white in color, surrounded by a larger ring of an intense black color," said Carlos Parada.
The unidentified flying object (UFO) phenomenon remains a source of surprises. To the vast amount of eyewitness accounts furnished in recent days, we can add the report by a pilot from a commercial Chilean airline, claiming to have seen them.
In August 1982, Carlos Parada, a pilot and flight instructor for LAN-Chile, with over 30 years’ experience, took a routine flight between Buenos Aires and Santiago. Around 20:00 hours, while flying over the Argentinean community of Villa Reinol, and in the company of the entire crew, he was able to witness the maneuvers of a strange luminous object.
The luminous object, according to his story, traveled slowly in front of the Boeing 737 for five minutes prior to vanishing at high speed down the side of the airliner. "Throughout this period, we were able to dismiss the possibility that it was any natural phenomenon, such as the moon or a reflection," he added.
Upon consulting the tower at Villa Reinol, they learned that the object had also been seen from that location, further confirming that it did not correspond to any weather or military device launched from any Argentinean ground station.
Parada subsequently indicated that "on our airliner's radio, we were able to overhear two other liners - one from Aerolíneas Argentinas and another from Línea Austral, requesting information on the UFO."
[Translation © 2023 S. Corrales, IHU with thanks to Raúl Núñez, IIEE]