2000-10-27 - Sunderland (UK/England)

This report was made in my local newspaper 'The Sunderland Echo' on 27th October 2000 WEAR UFO IS SPOTTED WITHIN FEET OF A JET INVESTIGATORS remain baffled after more sightings emerged today of an unidentified flying object over Wearside. The five-foot pear-shaped piece of silver metal was first spotted hurtling towards the ground by trainee teacher Jenny Cook in Hendon on Tuesday morning. Police launched an inquiry following the report by the 18-year-old Sunderland University student but, despite a ground search of the area, failed to find any trace of the object. The Echo has now learnt that officials at Newcastle Airport were alerted after a similar sighting three hours later above Penshaw. Ron Atwill spotted a mysterious five-foot long grey object narrowly miss a passenger jet as it made its descent towards Newcastle Airport, while walking his dog near the old Herrington Colliery site. Mr Atwill, a retired prison service worker, saw the object at 11.45am. He said: "I was looking up as a passenger jet was flying quite low in the distance on a flight path between the colliery and Penshaw Monument and I saw this thing almost hit it. I rang the airport because this thing appeared that close and I thought they might have spotted it as well. It was about 20ft away from the plane. "It looked exactly the way it was described in the Echo. It was a silvery grey in colour and from where I was standing it looked very flat, pear shaped and about four to five feet long. "I watched it for a little while and then turned away and took my eye off it and it had disappeared. It almost looked like it was standing still, moving very slowly earthbound towards Sunderland. If you can imagine a piece of corrugated iron, but not corrugated and oblong." Speculation has included suggestions that the metal could be debris from a plane or a metal chunk from a decaying Pegasus satellite, which Nasa officials have warned is in the process of breaking up and falling to earth. Other theories include that the object could have been a model aircraft, advertising balloon, or even plastic sheeting. Mr Atwill, 64, of Elm Place, Newbottle, added: "I hadn't a clue what it was and I didn't want to say anything, because of what people might think. "But I definitely saw something. It wasn't a speck in the sky. It was big enough to make out even though it was a bit in the distance, but now I am beginning to think what was it? I thought it must have been something dropping out of the sky. I wasn't imagining it. I should know, I was there. It wasn't a weather balloon or a model." A spokeswoman for Newcastle Airport said the pilot on board the jet had reported no sightings to air traffic controllers. Detective Inspector John Watts, of Sunderland City Centre Police, said: "We had a report of a strange object in the skies about the size of a small car. We couldn't find anything but it has been reported to the relevant authorities." Roger Mallett, an independent paranormal investigator, said: "It is more than likely they saw something which they can't rationally explain and they don't know who to turn to. The fact that two independent people did, adds more credibility and if more come forward, even in two or three weeks' time, will certainly add even more weight." North East Press Ltd