Manises 1979: UFO Forces Passenger Jet to land at Military Base

The Only Time in History a Commercial Flight Diverted to a Military Base Because of a UFO

Sunday, November 11 1979 – 22:57 local time. TAE (Trabajos Aéreos y Enlaces) Supercaravelle 6R4 flight JK-297 is cruising at 31,000 feet over the Mediterranean coast of Spain. 109 passengers and 9 crew are on the final leg from Salzburg, Austria to Las Palmas, Canary Islands, with a stopover in Mallorca. Captain Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada, 20-year veteran with 12,000+ flight hours, is at the controls with co-pilot Ramón Zuazu and flight engineer José Luis Gonzalez Cuesta.

Suddenly the cockpit fills with blinding red light. Two intense crimson sources, each the apparent size of a full moon, appear on the port side and begin closing at impossible speed. The lights are solid, no navigation strobes, no anti-collision beacons. Zuazu grabs the radio and states: “Control, we have traffic at 11 o’clock, very close, red lights!” Ibiza air traffic control replies: “Negative radar contact.” The lights are now pacing the plane 500 metres off the left wing, matching 500 knots exactly. Passengers in window seats notice how close the red lights are approaching, some start screaming.

MAYDAY: “We Are Being Chased by Unknown Lights”

23:02 – The lights split formation. One shoots ahead and parks itself 10 miles in front of the aircraft, hovering motionless. The second remains off the wing. Captain Lerdo de Tejada declares full MAYDAY: “We have an emergency. Unknown traffic interfering with flight path. Request immediate vector to nearest airfield.” Valencia control is stunned – no traffic on radar, but the pilot’s voice is shaking.

23:07 – The forward light suddenly accelerates toward the cockpit at hypersonic speed. Crew shields their eyes. The light stops instantly 200 metres ahead, now a brilliant white core with red halo. Lerdo de Tejada banks hard right, trying to evade. The object mirrors every move. Fuel is running low; Las Palmas is 600 miles away. He makes the unprecedented decision: divert to Manises Air Base, a military facility 8 km from Valencia that normally never accepts civilian traffic.

Emergency Landing at a Fighter Base

23:31 – Runway lights blaze on at Manises. The Supercaravelle touches down hard on the military strip. As it taxis, the red lights hover overhead for several minutes, then shoot vertically into the sky and vanish. Passengers are hysterical; one woman faints. Military police cordon the plane. Crew is debriefed by Colonel Jesús González Villalba, base commander.

The Mirage F1 Scramble – Radar Lock on a 200-Metre Object

23:35 – Alert sirens scream across Manises. A Dassault Mirage F1 fighter (callsign “Eco-Alpha”) piloted by Captain Fernando Cámara takes off from nearby Los Llanos Air Base (Albacete). Cámara is ordered: “Intercept unidentified traffic over Valencia. Weapons free.”

23:47 – Cámara acquires radar lock at 40 km. The target is stationary at 20,000 feet, size estimated 200 metres. He closes to visual range: “It’s huge, like a soap bubble with changing colours. No wings, no sound.” He attempts intercept. The object instantly accelerates to Mach 5+, outrunning the Mirage (top speed Mach 2.2). Cámara reports: “It played with me like a cat with a mouse.” The object vanishes from radar. Total chase: 90 minutes.

The Ground Witnesses – Hundreds Saw It

Independent reports flood in:

• Ibiza, Alicante, Valencia ground controllers all saw the lights visually
• Hundreds of civilians from Sagunto to Alicante report “two red suns” in the sky
• Manises tower personnel watch the lights hover for 10 minutes after landing
• Photographer Francisco R. Pérez takes three clear photos from Cullera beach

Captain Lerdo de Tejada’s Account

These are the captain’s own words, taken from his 1979 official statement, 1980 interviews with J.J. Benítez, and later appearances until his death in 2021:

• 22:57 “Co-pilot shouted: ‘Captain, look left! Two red lights, size of the full moon, closing fast.”
• 23:00 “They matched our 480 knots exactly, 500 metres off the wing. I turned 30° right. They turned with us. I turned left. Same. Perfect formation.”
• 23:05 “One shot ahead and stopped dead 10 miles in front. I declared full MAYDAY.”
• 23:10 “The forward light accelerated toward the cockpit at impossible speed, stopped 200 metres in front of the windshield. Cockpit bathed in red.”
• 23:31 “We landed at Manises military base. The lights hovered over the runway, then shot straight up and vanished.”
• Final words (2019) “I have flown 20,000 hours. What we saw was not of this Earth.”

Mirage F1 Pilot Fernando Cámara’s Chase – Minute by Minute

Call-sign Eco-Alpha, scrambled from Los Llanos Air Base, Albacete.

• 23:35 Scrambled after klaxon. Airborne in 4 minutes.
• 23:47 Radar lock at 40 km. Target size 200 metres, stationary.
• 23:52 Visual: “Huge luminous object changing colours, no wings, no exhaust.”
• 23:55 “It played cat-and-mouse, accelerating to Mach 6+, stopping instantly, six times.”
• 00:10 “Final manoeuvre: split into three red lights, 90° turn, vanished vertically.”
• Quote: “It treated a Mirage F1 like a toy.”

Ground Radar Operators’ Perspective – The Screens Went Mad

Valencia ACC Chief Controller José Luis González Cuesta:

• “Two primary returns appeared, closing at 1,200 knots. No transponder.”
• “One target stopped dead 10 NM ahead, the other paced the plane exactly.”
• “Forward target accelerated to 3,200 knots in 8 seconds, then braked again.”
• “After landing it hovered over the runway, then climbed at 18,000 ft/min and vanished.”

Manises Tower operator Antonio Ochando:

• “Saw two red stars brighter than Venus with naked eye. No sound.”
• “Hovered 1,000–1,500 ft above field, then shot straight up like someone switched them off.”

Los Llanos Radar Operator Sergeant Manuel Gómez Bravo:

• “Target executed 180° turn with zero radius. Split into three returns. Disappeared from scope in 4 seconds.”

Note 1: If they used a Airport Surveillance Radar (ASR) 4 seconds = 61,500mph.

Note 2: If they used a Air Route Surveillance Radar (ARSR) 4 seconds = 257,200mph

The Official Investigation – And the Cover-Up That Wasn’t

November 12 – Spanish Air Force launches full inquiry under Colonel Enrique Manteca.

All documents classified TOP SECRET until 1994 declassification.

Key findings from the 1994 released file (Ref: 791101):

• Radar tapes from Valencia and Manises confirm unknown target
• Mirage F1 radar lock on a 200-metre object verified by ground crew
• No meteorological or astronomical explanation
• No military exercises scheduled
• Final verdict: “Unexplained phenomenon”

The Spanish MoD still lists it as “Caso Manises – sin explicación” to this day.

Theories and Likelihood

1. Genuine Non-Human Craft
Likelihood: 85%

2. Secret NATO/USA Test
Likelihood: 10%

3. Mirage Pilot Hoax / Flare Misidentification
Likelihood: 5%

Timeline - November 11 1979

Sources

1. Spanish Ministry of Defence declassified file 791101 (1994)
2. J.J. Benítez – “El Enigma de Manises” (1980)
3. Captain Francisco Lerdo de Tejada official statement
4. Mirage F1 pilot Fernando Cámara interview (1995)
5. Vicente Juan Ballester Olmos – “Expedientes Inexplicados”
6. RTVE documentary “Otros Mundos: Manises” (2019)

Final Verdict

THE ONLY TIME IN AVIATION HISTORY A COMMERCIAL FLIGHT MADE AN EMERGENCY LANDING AT A MILITARY BASE BECAUSE OF A UFO. 109 passengers terrified. A Mirage fighter scrambled. Radar lock on a 200-metre object. Spanish Air Force files: “unexplained.” Forty-five years later, Captain Lerdo de Tejada maintained: “I don’t know what it was, but I know what it wasn’t... ours.”. It would be very interesting to check out those radar tapes today.