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In December 1978, several months after Frederick Valentich disappeared over Bass Strait after reporting a UFO, unidentified lights were reported in the skies above Kaikoura, New Zealand, by the flight crew of a cargo plane. The unknown lights tracked the aircraft for several minutes before briefly disappearing and then reappearing elsewhere in the night sky. The crew described some of these unknown lights as being the size of a house and others as small but brilliantly flashing lights. Over the coming nights, the lights would make a return appearance, and the Kaikoura Lights would become one of the most compelling UFO cases of all time.
The first sighting
On the night of 21 December 1978, the flight crew of a Safe Air cargo plane flying over the Cook Strait on the northern tip of the South Island of New Zealand observed unknown lights that appeared to be tracking their Argosy aircraft. The lights, which appeared to the crew as being the size of a house while others appeared smaller and flashing brilliantly, tracked the plane for several minutes before momentarily disappearing and then reappearing in a different position in the night sky. The lights were also being observed on the ground.
At the nearby Blenheim Airbase at Cloudy Bay, a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) officer, Ian Uffindel, observed unusual lights in the sky. He described them in similar terms to the plane crew: one large and two smaller lights making controlled movements, flying closely together. He was convinced they were not aircraft. At Wellington Air Traffic Control, John Cordy confirmed that objects appeared on his radar in the same area that Ian Uffindel had reported seeing the unidentified flying objects..... continues
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