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Former
Iberia Commander Says: "I Saw A UFO" "I'm
65 years old and flew for 40 years in the Air Force and then for Iberia. I
now run a piloting school. I was born in Madrid, my father was a general
in the Air Force. The day I saw a UFO from my aircraft I wasn't able to
sleep...I haven't stopped thinking about it all this time. I've just
completed [my book] "Destino Cielo" about all my years of piloting and my
UFO Encounter"
Juan Lorenzo Torres The
UFO Guy The
son of an Air Force general, a combat pilot over the Sahara, companion
in arms of the King (I see him, with his wife in several photos sharing a
meal with Their Majesties), an Iberia pilot, director of an aviation
academy...It could not have been easy for this military man to wax
eloquent on the "UFO subject" as he calls it. It must be equally
embarrassing for his former
comrades to discuss Juan's calm "wackiness" as he declassifies
documents and recalls distant lights. However, I've enjoyed more his
memoirs about the Sahara and the Spanish occupation, his obedient "little
moors" and his dandruff covered camels than dizzying myself with the pages
of the UFO universe. Lluis
Amiguet Q: Why do you
insist on remembering those lights now? A: I think
many people would like to know that my crew and I saw something that no
one has been able to explain to this very day. Q: When [was
this]? A:
November 4, 1968 at 18 hours and 23 minutes. Q:
Where? A: Over
Sagunto, Valencia. I was the captain of a Caravelle 6R, a very modern
vehicle at the time, covering the Iberia route between London and Alicante
(IB Flight 249). There were no incidents until we reached Barcelona. At
some 100 miles away, the Barcelona tower ordered us to abandon level
310 31,000 feet and descend to level 280. Q: Why? A: British
Caledonia was heading for us in the opposite direction, so we were asked
to descend to avoid a possible collision. Q: So? A: Well, I had
already ordered dinner and the trays were in the cabin, but a that
altitude we were shaving the clouds, which produce a slight though
uncomfortable turbulence. Having one's dinner that way was thoroughly
disagreeable. I asked my co-pilot to visually monitor if the opposing
traffic could be seen, in order that we could return to our proper level
to have a peaceful dinner. Q: Did he see
it? A: We thought
so. He said: "I have it in sight", but what we saw instead was a flash and
a light coming toward us at an impressive speed. Q: [Were you]
startled? A: And scared.
That thing was on a collision course. Q: What did
you do? A: We dumped
the trays and our jaws dropped, since that blinding light was nothing we'd
seen before. We called the stewardess to witness the thing. None of us
knew what it could be. Q: What did
the light do? A: It stayed
10 meters from my plane's nose cone. It went up and down and moved from
right to left, but always returned to the same spot, 10 meters away from
my plane. Q: Did you
contact the Barcelona tower? A:
Well, it
wasn't so easy. What could I say? We were all afraid of ridicule. I tried
contacting the object in both English and Spanish, then I contacted the
Barcelona VOR and asked if there was air traffic in the area. I was told
that their radar coverage was limited to 60 miles. Q: So what did
you do then? A: I made an
emergency broadcast on the 121.5 channel so that all nearby aircraft could
communicate with us. Q: And after
that? A: We all
stared at the lights. There was a large light and two small ones on the
sides. I attempted a primitive communication system using my landing
lights. I told it in Spanish: "On and off twice means no, on and off once
means yes." Q: And did you
get along? A: I think we
did. I asked it several questions, among others: "Friend or foe?" Q: What did
you answer? A: There was
logic in their movements. Q: How long
did the sighting last? A:
Somewhat more than ten minutes. Q: That's a
long time. A: Yes. Q: What did
you do upon landing? A: That night
we all slept poorly, as my crew told me the next day. We all made a pact
of silence, but lieutenant colonel Abreu of the Barcelona tower, called me
when I landed at El Prat and told me that the radar coverage for eastern
Spain had recorded those "UFOs".
I asked for a copy of these records and he gave me one.
Q: Do you
still have that copy? A: No, because
4 month later, another Caravelle piloted by commander Ordovas had another
sighting in the area, flying with the same flight engineer, Jose
Cuenca! The news made it into
the media because one of the flight attendants had a boyfriend who was a
journalist. Q: So the
rumor spread... A: Yes.
Journalists began calling and four months later Lt. Col Ugarte and a
lawyer showed up and the copy was confiscated. Q: Well! A: After
reporting the sighting, Lt. Col Ugarte concluded that what the co‑pilot,
engineer, flight attendant and I had seen was in fact Venus! Q: Venus? A: Yes, Venus.
Venus was stuck to my plane's nose, I never realized it! Q: What made
them say that? A: I guess
that their military culture finds it very embarrassing not to have an
explanation. Venus is as good an answer as any. Q: And what do
you think? A: I thought
it could have been‑‑why not?‑‑an alien craft or something by alien
creatures. When military intelligence declassified the documents on the
sightings, I noticed the radar records were absent. Lt. Col. Abreu told me
the radar had recorded three UFOs. Q: Do you
believe in them? A: I think I
saw something from a non terrestrial culture. Q: Do you have
any other data? A: I'd say the
same thing. The ones in charge will deny what they see before accepting
what they can't explain or control. And of course, it was Venus.
Special thanks to Javier Garcia Blanco (LACIP)
Source: La Vanguardia Digital Date: 07.14.2000
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