Kelowna UFO Sighting

Report By Gavin McLeod

 

Computer image created by witness.

Drawing by witness.

Computer image created by witness

Drawing by witness

May 5 1998 was a clear Spring evening in Kelowna. Three adult members of a house were outside enjoying the view of the sky. The sky was partially cloudy but quite bright due to the presence of the moon which was slightly bigger than half full.

At approximately 10:05 P.M. their attention was drawn to a high flying jet aircraft travelling from west to east. It was low enough for them to hear the faint roar of the engines. One member of the group lowered his gaze and noticed a dark shape to the south of his position. He alerted the rest of the group and they all turned their attention to this object. At first they thought it might be an aircraft except for the fact that most aircraft in the area fly an east west route. Kelowna has relatively busy airport and these gentlemen were used to observing aircraft arrivals and departures most of which pass directly over the house occupied by the trio. One of the gentlemen was formerly employed as a Ground Specialist at the Ottawa International Airport and was familiar with most aircraft.

They first observed the object as a dark triangular shape silhouetted against the bright night sky. They could not hear any noise from the object as it proceeded slowly past their position. They had the impression that the object was following the shoreline of Lake Okanagan as it travelled slowly from south to north. The size was described to be equal to that of a 737 jet aircraft viewed from one mile away. A soft white glow emanated from each corner of the underside of the object. The colour was reported to be flat black. As the object approached a position to the west of the group it seemed to change its course slightly to the west for between 5 and 10 seconds then turned back to its original course. At this point its apparent size was described as that of a football (Canadian I presume) held at arm's length. The object proceeded north and gained in altitude as it approached Knox mountain. It passed out of sight over the western tip of Mt Knox. The entire sighting lasted approximately two minutes.

This report was compiled from independent depositions from two of the witnesses. The third witness declined due to fears of government interference. All three witnesses stated that although they do not know what it is they are absolutely certain that it was not a conventional aircraft.

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Update Received Aug, 2009:

One of the witnesses wrote UFOBC and had this to add to the account:

I reported a sighting some years ago. The sighting was on May 5, 1998, approx 10:05 PM. I was originally interviewed by Gavin McLeod. The original posting can be found above. It's mostly correct but there are a few mistakes. I've copied the report as Gavin posted it and have made several edits. I've created and attached a proper map that more accurately represents the flight path of the object and have re-scanned the original drawing as the one on your site is faint. The computer generated graphic that you have is more accurate, as far as the lights go, and is the best one out there as I no longer have the original file.



Here is the edited text:

It was a clear Spring evening in Kelowna. Myself and two other house mates were outside enjoying the view of the sky. The sky was partially cloudy but quite bright due to the presence of the moon which was slightly bigger than half full.

At approximately 10:05 P.M. our attention was drawn to a high flying jet aircraft travelling from west to east. It was low enough for us to hear the faint roar of the engines. I lowered my gaze and noticed a dark shape with lights drop from the sky approximately 5-8 miles south of our position over Okanagan Mountain Park. It began to move slowly over the park in an west to east direction. I alerted the rest of the group and they all turned their attention to this object. As it reached the outskirts of the city it changed direction and started to move south to north, towards us. At first we thought it might be an aircraft except for the fact that most aircraft in the area fly an east west route. Kelowna has a relatively busy airport and we were used to observing aircraft arrivals and departures. I was formerly employed as a Ground Specialist at the Ottawa International Airport and was familiar with most aircraft including those at air shows. This was something I'd never seen before.

We first observed the object as a dark triangular shape silhouetted against the bright night sky. We could not hear any noise from the object as it proceeded slowly towards our position. A soft white glow emanated from what appeared to be 3 portholes, one at each corner of the underside of the object. The colour was flat black. The size was equal to that of a 737 jet aircraft viewed from 500 to 700 feet away at it's closest point. As the object approached a position to the west of us it seemed to change its course slightly to the east for 5 to 10 seconds then turned back to its original course. At this point its apparent size was that of a football held at arm's length. The object proceeded north and gained in altitude as it approached the western spur of Knox Mountain (where the mountain meets the lake) and passed over and out of sight. The entire sighting lasted approximately five minutes.

We don't know what it was but we are absolutely certain that it was not a conventional aircraft.

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Hi. One thing I forgot to mention. Years later, after I'd moved and gotten married, I mentioned the incident to a neighbour of mine. He said he had a friend who lived a block to the west of our original sighting position who saw a large triangular shaped object fly right over his house. I asked my neighbour to speak with his friend and enquire about the date and time. He did, and though he was not sure of the exact date the time was right and it was early May 1998. Other than that he really didn't want to speak about it because as my neighbour put it, "it spooked him".

Always keeping an eye on the sky.
 


 

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