1980s Cheadle staffordshire: Plane or UFO?

The account sounds made-up to me. There's no technical details about the photo. The blog site is rather sensationalist.
 
It's distorted and the viewing angle is more skewed but it looks like a plain old highwing aircraft to me, maybe a Cessna R182. The underside of the wing is the dark part, the body is the light colored area underneath.


 
My first question is: where's the Mufon database entry? Then: where is the original photo?

Why give this story any credence at all?
 
First glance

It looks like it was taken through a window, the focus seems to be on the window as it seems dirt on the glass is visible so it looks likely that the object is on the window as well as it is sharp compared to the stuff outside the window.

So a water drop or a chip or something?
 
It looks like it was taken through a window,
it probably was, that is likely a sheepskin chair cover in the lower right. but if the photo is old, it could just be an old dirty print.

looks like a regular airplane to me. the dark underside of wing would start half way back and the top nose is shaded because of the sun angle. the tail is hidden there behind the wing. That's what it looks like to me anyway.

And one has to wonder why, if the craft hovered ( within "50 feet") above him as claimed, he didnt get a shot when it was closer. he obviously had his camera out.
 
It looks to me like it's stuck to the window

It's sharp in comparison to everything else outside the window, a plane that close would have motion blur.
The camera focal point seems to be the window as you can see the dirt on it.
 
hmm wasnt really expecting this, not sure why upper section so dark on my cessna. i did darken the whole pic a bit so the plane was more in shade, then added a little bit of lighting to the belly.
then shrunk it. except for the big shadow on my original that i can see in my mini.. its a general match, esp considering my view angle looks more side on. weird.
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original
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Can we be sure it's Cheadle, Staffs? Cheadle, Greater Manchester is only 3.2miles North East of Manchester International Airport. Whats more it in direct alliegnment with the main runway, so anything on final approach, or just taken off would be passing over Cheadle at about that apparent altitude

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The account sounds made-up to me. There's no technical details about the photo. The blog site is rather sensationalist.
Yes, well the first red flag should be that the account of the "sighting" in no way matches the photo.

It was a bitter cold night with the ground covered in ice, and the sky was very clear. I was walking from one building to another as my job routine. While walking I noticed a light in the air flying very low and head towards me from a north eastern angle. My first and obvious thought was of course... helicopter!
...
It came to a complete halt right in front of me, directly hovering in total stillness over the roof of the building.
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Whereas the photo seems to have been snapped out of the window of a house on a residential street, at dusk.
 
Can we be sure it's Cheadle, Staffs? Cheadle, Greater Manchester is only 3.2miles North East of Manchester International Airport.
The skyline looks like a better match with Staffordshire. There's a hill just northwest of that Cheadle that seems the right shape. I'll see if I can locate the pic when I have more time (although of course the area may have changed beyond recognition in 40 years).

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With the levels adjusted as above it looks like there is maybe an illuminated petrol station canopy in the distance, visible just to the left of the right-hand house.


There's an airfield less than 15 miles from Cheadle that looks like it would have plenty of light aircraft traffic.

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