Chapter 1: The Manises UFO Encounter

On the evening of November 11, 1979, flight JK-297 departed from Son Sant Joan Airport in Mallorca, Spain, aboard a Supercaravelle operated by TAE Air Company, which had just come from Salzburg, Austria. The aircraft was delayed before its departure.

The flight headed toward the Canary Islands, specifically Tenerife. The highly skilled crew, led by Commander Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada, along with Second Pilot Ramón Zuazu and Mechanic Francisco Javier Rodríguez, maintained an exemplary level of professionalism. The flying conditions were optimal, with pleasant temperatures, clear skies, and excellent visibility.

As the Supercaravelle reached an altitude of 23,000 feet, the crew prepared to contact the Barcelona flight control tower, which would guide them into the Valencia airspace. At approximately 11:10 PM, they received an unusual transmission from about 40 miles northwest of Valencia, on a collision course with their aircraft. Alarmed, the crew spotted strange lights to their left, moving toward them. In an attempt to avoid a potential collision, the commander ascended to 28,000 feet, yet the enigmatic lights matched their altitude, coming within 500 meters of the plane.

Concerned about the situation, the flight deck alerted the Barcelona control tower about the unusual occurrence. They couldn't dismiss the mysterious luminous object trailing them. Meanwhile, military radar at Torrejón de Ardoz failed to detect any unauthorized flights. Alarmed, they contacted the Benidorm Air Surveillance Squadron (EVA 5), discovering that the Supercaravelle was indeed being followed by multiple unidentified lights. The airport director, Miguel Morlán, observed the Unidentified Luminous Object from Manises Airport, raising the alarm as a commercial flight faced serious danger. In response, the Supercaravelle made an emergency landing at Manises Airport.

On September 26, 1980, another UFO sighting was reported over Spanish airspace, involving three unidentified luminous objects detected on radar. Numerous witnesses reported the sighting, and emergency runway lights were activated in anticipation of an aircraft in distress. Captain Fernando Cámara launched a Mirage-1 fighter from the Los Llanos Air Base in Albacete to investigate the lights. After an hour and a half of pursuit, the chase was called off due to fuel constraints.

Controversial photographs taken by José Climent from Fornalutx near Sóller later emerged, showcasing a peculiar luminous object. To this day, this incident remains one of the most debated cases in Spain's ufological history. Despite an investigation initiated by the Air Force, which was declassified in August 1994, many doubts persist regarding the explanations provided.

In recent years, public interest has surged, leading to parliamentary inquiries about the events of September 26, 1980. Researcher José Antonio Fernández Peris published a book for the Anomaly Foundation, which scrutinizes the Manises case and proposes explanations two decades after the incident. It was suggested that the lights observed by the Supercaravelle's crew were likely the flares from the Escombreras refinery near Cartagena. This theory was supported by an analysis of the aircraft's flight path and the viewing angle from the cockpit.

The report indicated that the lights originated from the Escombreras Valley in Valencia, misleading observers. Additionally, extraordinary astronomical phenomena, such as bright planets or stars like Sirius, could have contributed to the confusion.

The Manises incident has captivated researchers and enthusiasts of the UFO phenomenon for years, as the crew of the commercial airliner encountered an unidentified flying object, prompting an interception attempt by the Spanish Air Force's Mirage-1.

Various explanations have been proposed, including psychological factors affecting the crew, surface temperature inversions, electronic warfare, and the sociological context surrounding UFO awareness in Spain at that time. Researcher Mr. Fernández Peris emphasized these theories while also highlighting the limited support from the Barcelona Flight Information and Control Center, as well as the psychological state of witnesses during the incident.

To better understand the event, a team of dedicated professionals conducted a comprehensive flight simulation that took into account all relevant factors that could influence a flight in Hispanic airspace. This simulation incorporated elements like the refinery flares in Escombreras Valley, astronomical anomalies, electronic warfare, and atmospheric conditions.

The simulation mirrored the actual flight path followed by the Supercaravelle crew during the incident. However, when the virtual aircraft reached the supposed location of the refinery flares, nothing unusual occurred, mirroring a routine flight experience akin to that of Captain Cámara's interceptor mission.

These simulation results implied that the incident may have been more extraordinary than initially perceived. A report detailing the astronomical simulation of the night sky above Valencia and the digitized military geography of the Murcia region was compiled. The study was conducted based on the atmospheric conditions present during flight JK-297 over the Mediterranean, traveling from Mallorca toward the peninsula and eventually toward Valencia.

The report documented longitude and latitude references, the time zone of the sightings, and the flight altitudes between 23,000 and 28,000 feet. It also noted the locations of Son Sant Joan Airport in Mallorca, Manises Airport in Valencia, and the Escombreras factory in Murcia.

During the flight, when the crew reported unusual communications or signals on the emergency channel, approximately 40 miles northwest of Valencia, it was observed that the nearest celestial object to the supposed UFO was the Lira constellation, particularly its brightest star, Vega. Higher up, the Cygnus constellation, with its prominent star Deneb, could be seen, along with other constellations like Cepheus, Lacerta, and Cassiopeia, none of which had stars bright enough to be confused with a UFO.

The report concluded that at angles between 20 and 70 degrees northeast of the celestial north, satellites and planets such as Pluto, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and the Moon were grouped below two degrees of the ecliptic at the time of the incident, appearing in the plane's tail at approximately 11:10 PM on November 11, 1979.

The official flight path was intended to take the aircraft from Mallorca to Ibiza, following a nearly parallel route along eastern Spain's coasts, flying over the provinces of Alicante and Murcia before exiting through Cádiz en route to the Canary Islands. However, due to the appearance of the strange lights, Commander Lerdo de Tejada had to alter the flight path to 330 degrees northwest, approximately 90 degrees off the planned route, to approach Valencia for landing at Manises Airport. This deviation allowed Sirius, the brightest star in the sky, to be visible through the right window of the Supercaravelle.

The report affirmed that Commander Lerdo de Tejada's dialogue was coherent, calm, and rational, devoid of any reckless or impulsive decision-making. The trajectory change was deemed necessary due to the inability to obtain an accurate recognition response to the unidentified phenomena and the lack of critical information, which could have led to a potential disaster at 28,000 feet.

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