- Additional reporting by Digital Desk

Earlier: Audio: Close encounter with UFO off Irish coast leaves pilots ‘wondering’

The Irish Aviation Authority has begun an investigation into the sighting of an unidentified flying object (UFO) by a number of aircraft off the south-west coast of Ireland last Friday. According to an audio recording posted on the flight tracking website Airlive – which is run by aviation enthusiasts – the pilot of British Airways flight #BA94 from Montreal to London can be heard speaking to an air traffic controller in Shannon, Ireland about an unidentified object she saw on Friday morning. It was a very bright light that disappeared at very high speed.”

The British Airways pilot, who was flying from Montreal, radioed in to find out if there were any military exercises planned in the area, according to a recording of the conversation by Airlive, a site for aviation enthusiasts. The controller responded that he saw nothing on the radar and that there were no military exercises at the time, according to a recording of the conversation posted by the aviation enthusiast site AirLive. It was moving so fast.”

The controller then asked: “Alongside you?”

The BA pilot, flying from Montreal to Heathrow, describes how the UFO came up along the left-hand side of the aircraft, “then rapidly veered to the north”. It looked like, “a meteor or another object making some kind of re-entry,” said the Virgin Airlines pilot, who was flying from Orlando to Manchester.“[It was] multiple objects following the same sort of trajectory – very bright from where we were.”

A third pilot later weighed in via radio, saying: “Glad I’m not the only one [who saw it].”

On Monday, the Irish Aviation Authority said it was investigating the sighting, according to the The Irish Times. We saw a bright light and then it disappeared at a very high speed.”

The British Airways pilot said she didn’t think they were on a collision course with the unknown object. One pilot said the objects were moving at “astronomical” speed, of at least “Mach 2,” or twice the speed of sound, according to the BBC. "Following reports from a small number of aircraft on Friday 9 November of unusual air activity the IAA has filed a report," the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) said. On Tuesday, the Irish Aviation Authority confirmed it was looking into “reports from a small number of aircraft” about “unusual air activity.”

In its statement, the authority added that the reports would be investigated “under the normal confidential occurrence investigation process.”

With files from The Associated Press
The Irish Aviation Authority launches an investigation after several airliner pilots report extremely fast moving bright lights off the south-west coast of Ireland.