Multiple UFOs near Southampton airport (2005)

[johne1618]

YouTuber James Firman posted CCTV footage of UFOs near Southampton airport taken in August 2005. The view is to the east over the airfield towards Horton Heath (see https://goo.gl/maps/5hH4rVwb1BWikzax6).

In the description of the video he writes:

On the 26th August 2005 at 23:45 I was working in Southampton next to the airport as a security officer. It was a beautiful clear and warm summers night and I was just getting ready to start a patrol of my site when a delivery driver arrived at the main gate. Once inside the gates the driver commented on a strange light that seemed to be following the nearby motor way, as he described this light it appeared in the sky over towards Fords motor company (at that time just to the south of the M27 motor way), about 600 ft from where we were standing. As we watched the object crossed the motor way and moved silently over head and behind my building. At this point the driver had unloaded his load and drove of site, As soon as i had locked the main gates, I returned to my office and spun the CCTV camera's around towards the direction of the light. After a few seconds of searching i found the object. This is what i filmed.

In one of the comments he further states:

There's not a lot that freaks me out, but on that day when I walked down to the lower carpark to look for myself, i'll be truthfull-standing there watching...gave me the hee bee gee bees. All i kept thinking about was "What am i looking at".I think at one point I started to convince myself that someone had glued glow sticks to birds of something. All I know is the lights were bright, made No noise and seemed to dance in the night air.

The video shows many lights, going backwards and forwards, sometimes shining down onto the trees below (see 1:02 to 1:08). The observer confirmed that there was no noise. One can see the lights move along smoothly at a constant velocity and then suddenly accelerate. For instance look at the left light from 5:30 onwards suddenly accelerate off the left-hand side of the video.


Source: https://youtu.be/aX5usvoxevM

Are these helicopters flying search patterns? The lights seem much more agile than helicopters.

Also, where are their flashing anti-collision lights?

Here is an example video showing a military helicopter with flashing anti-collision lights


Source: https://youtu.be/Dbatveyn3CM

 

[Rocky]

Since it's over an airfield and it was shut down, could be military exercises using drones. A military helicopter showed up after. Just a guess. But likely a better guess than what the UFO community would think. I'm sure they will make that giant alien leap with no supporting evidence.

 

[Rocky]

Just as an afterthought about there being no noise... I was at a fall festival about 6 years ago near Holmdel NJ and the police had a huge drone (possibly 10 ft wide) hovering over the crowd at about 200 ft just over the treetops for surveillance and looking up at it I could hear nothing. It just hovered with a green and red light. You couldn't even see the shape of it because of the lights and it was a crystal clear evening. And when it would move to another area of the festival it would zoom away real quick and stop and stay hovering really still. An amazing piece of technology that I was fortunate to witness. And btw, The friend I was with was an NYPD commander. He said they have even better tech than that drone out there.

 

[johne1618]

Since it's over an airfield and it was shut down, could be military exercises using drones. A military helicopter showed up after. Just a guess. But likely a better guess than what the UFO community would think. I'm sure they will make that giant alien leap with no supporting evidence.

The military helicopter is shown in an example video to demonstrate normal anti-collision lights.

I don't think the British police or military had many drones back in 2005.

 

[Ravi]

@Rocky I agree that "no sound" should not be used as an argument. Sound is affected a lot by wind and the direction of it.

I see the lights having some kind of "headlights", as you can see the brightness go up when they make a turn.

 

[NorCal Dave]

As usual, poor quality video of light left up to interpretation.

Some of them seem to move a lot like cars in the distance. Below is the airport and he claims to be looking toward Horton Heath on the right of the image. The 2 blue lines are decent sized roads, plus there is a rail line running diagonally across the image.

I will note that he has 2 other videos of basically the same thing, orbs over Southhampton. So either that part of the UK is regularly visited by aliens, or this guy has figured out how to get this footage repeatedly.

It seems like the land is too flat, however, at the very beginning of the video as he starts to swing the camera, it sure looks like he is elevated and up on top of something. That might allow him to see over the tress towards the roads in the distance. Just a thought.

 

[Ravi]

Could it have been some kind of RC plane etc. show or demo? Being "a nice summer night" and the airport closed...

 

[johne1618]

As usual, poor quality video of light left up to interpretation.

Some of them seem to move a lot like cars in the distance. Below is the airport and he claims to be looking toward Horton Heath on the right of the image. The 2 blue lines are decent sized roads, plus there is a rail line running diagonally across the image.

Here is a view to the east across the runway to the trees beyond: https://goo.gl/maps/Hhkfe28b21dAugM16. There's no road or railway visible above the treetops.

I will note that he has 2 other videos of basically the same thing, orbs over Southhampton. So either that part of the UK is regularly visited by aliens, or this guy has figured out how to get this footage repeatedly.

The other 3 UFO videos on his YouTube channel seem to be his own digital camera recordings of the 2005 CCTV footage. It seems that he managed to get hold of the raw CCTV video itself in 2011.

It seems like the land is too flat, however, at the very beginning of the video as he starts to swing the camera, it sure looks like he is elevated and up on top of something. That might allow him to see over the tress towards the roads in the distance. Just a thought.

I guess the CCTV security camera is on a pole.

 

[johne1618]

Could it have been some kind of RC plane etc. show or demo? Being "a nice summer night" and the airport closed...

It seems very unlikely that people were flying RC planes at night.

 

[flarkey]

Could it have been some kind of RC plane etc. show or demo? Being "a nice summer night" and the airport closed...

I was thinking this too. The movement and the quick change in direction suggests something small and manoeuvrable such as RC planes... or aliens, obviously.


Source: https://youtu.be/T52iXJuyR04?t=54

 

[Rocky]

The military helicopter is shown in an example video to demonstrate normal anti-collision lights.

I don't think the British police or military had many drones back in 2005.

You are incorrect on this statement. 1990 to 2010 time period was a big leap for military, police and commercial drones.

 

[flarkey]

A straight line from Southampton airport over Horton Heath leasds to...

https://wcaero.bmfa.club/

 

[Mendel]

or aliens, obviously.

why would aliens have "headlights", yet not show themselves?
These kinds of observations are never obvious. Common sense says whoever lights up like this doesn't mind being seen, but the aliens clearly do—I haven't seen any yet.

 

[johne1618]

A straight line from Southampton airport over Horton Heath leasds to...

https://wcaero.bmfa.club/

View attachment 50615

The Waltham Chase Aeromodellers maintain the following flying times. They don't fly in the dark.

They follow the British Model Flying Association regulations which say:

 

[flarkey]

why would aliens have "headlights", yet not show themselves?
These kinds of observations are never obvious. Common sense says whoever lights up like this doesn't mind being seen, but the aliens clearly do—I haven't seen any yet.

Apologies, my "aliens, obviously" was sarcasm.

 

[johne1618]

You are incorrect on this statement. 1990 to 2010 time period was a big leap for military, police and commercial drones.

According to Wikipedia the Merseyside (Liverpool area) police only started experimenting with a drone fitted with a CCTV camera in 2007.

 

[NorCal Dave]

They don't fly in the dark

That schedule is from this year. What were they doing 17 years ago? If they never fly in the dark, why is this drone picture from they're website all lit up?

photos.google.com/share/AF1QipNOmPlp0kHE6b6vvMlaHKxL-o_VQ0l4B_XrLSTdTm2x2dWPHwj1lgfdL2IRCu6Dqg?key=UU5obVQ2Y0pOaHY5UV9HVThMR0hScTFyUEV3aUhn

 

[johne1618]

That schedule is from this year. What were they doing 17 years ago? If they never fly in the dark, why is this drone picture from they're website all lit up?

I've emailed some RC model clubs to the east of Southampton Airport asking them if they flew RC models or drones on Aug 26, 2005 at 23:45.

 

[johne1618]

Correction: It seems there aren't any NOTAMs in the database for years before 2011. So this null result is invalid.

I have run an archive NOTAM search for Southampton Airport EGHI for Aug 26-27, 2005 and found no record of military activity in the area (https://notams.aim.faa.gov/notamSearch, select Location->Archive Search).

 

[johne1618]

I've emailed some RC model clubs to the east of Southampton Airport asking them if they flew RC models or drones on Aug 26, 2005 at 23:45.

I've got a reply from the guy who runs Waltham Chase Aeromodellers. He said the following:

1. You can't see the club's airfield from Southampton Airport.
2. The club only started doing some night flying from 2008 onward.
3. In 2005 consumer drones were too unsophisticated to be the explanation for the lights in the video.

 

[Mendel]

I have run an archive NOTAM search for Southampton Airport EGHI for Aug 26-27, 2005 and found no record of military activity in the area (https://notams.aim.faa.gov/notamSearch, select Location->Archive Search).

View attachment 50635

View attachment 50636

You found no NOTAMS. Since that site has no NOTAMs for that airport for all of 2005, and no NOTAMs for that year for Luton (EGGW) either, I expect 2005 is simply not in that database. In that case, your search result has no meaning.

 

[JMartJr]

It at least means he looked for NOTAMS, and as you note there seems to be a large omission there for 2005. So somebody else need not repeat that particular search.

 

[johne1618]

You found no NOTAMS. Since that site has no NOTAMs for that airport for all of 2005, and no NOTAMs for that year for Luton (EGGW) either, I expect 2005 is simply not in that database. In that case, your search result has no meaning.

You're right. It seems there aren't any NOTAMs in the database for years before 2011.

 

[flarkey]

Trying to establish the exact point of the camera in the video... this screen shot suggests there is a small hedge an a round building nearby...

I have found this location at the southern end of the Southampton airport site...

And as the camera pans to the right we see a tarmac'd area...

which corresponds with the Google Earth imagery...

And checking this against the position of the objects in the video... it gives us this line upon which the objects are seen....

It appears that the objects are illuminating the tree tops as they manoeuvre, this swould suggest that they are over the forested area 1.5km to the east of the airport. This is shown an the circled area below. For comparision, the Waltham Chase Aeromodellers site is shown at the top right, and although it is stillclose to the sightline, is closer to 9km away, which is quite far.

 

[johne1618]

I've raised a Freedom of Information request with the Ministry of Defence to find out if there was any military activity near Southampton Airport on the night of 26th/27th August 2005.

https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/military_activity_near_southampt

 

[SpOoKy777]

Some of them seem to move a lot like cars in the distance.

Exactly what I thought...especially when looking at the lights coming in from the right side and "turning" back to the right...there is even some repetetiveness to the "flight paths"...as this is all happening close to the horizon, maybe this is some kind of athmospheric/mirage effect?

Edit:
Weather data shows that the 26th was pretty cold...if there was warmer air above, there might've been a temperature differential...

 

[Mendel]

I thought maybe there were vehicles operating below the camera on the taxiways, or maybe on the grounds (e.g. mowing the lawn), and their headlights somehow reflected into the camera enclosure. Since this isn't a public camera, and the video is old to boot, that's going to be difficult to investigate.

 

[NorCal Dave]

Weather data shows that the 26th was pretty cold...if there was warmer air above, there might've been a temperature differential...

I don't know about mirages or such, but if I'm reading your chart right it was 39 degrees fahrenheit? I don't know if that is considered a "warm summer night" in that part of the UK as reported by the guy posting the video, but it seems pretty cold. If so, it could contradict what the poster said about the weather.

Not a big deal, but it could mean he is misremembering dates or details, something I do often. While he says it was on that date, 8/26/05, he was posting it 6 years after it happened. If the date is off, then trying to figure out what happened becomes a little more difficult.

 

[purpleivan]

39 fahrenheit would be cold for an August night in the southern UK, even late August. However looking at that charts it seems to show a temp for the 26th of 50 fahrenheit (the base level for the graph), rather than 39, which is more what I would expect.

 

[johne1618]

Exactly what I thought...especially when looking at the lights coming in from the right side and "turning" back to the right...there is even some repetetiveness to the "flight paths"...as this is all happening close to the horizon, maybe this is some kind of athmospheric/mirage effect?

Edit:
Weather data shows that the 26th was pretty cold...if there was warmer air above, there might've been a temperature differential...

The temperature on the night of Aug 26th/27th, 2005 was 57 deg F (14 deg C).

This would be considered a warm (though not hot) summer night in the UK. I think atmospheric phenomena like superior mirages would be very unusual over the Hampshire countryside.

Source: https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/gb/southampton/EGHI/date/2005-8-26

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Trying to establish the exact point of the camera in the video... this screen shot suggests there is a small hedge an a round building nearby...

View attachment 50641

I have found this location at the southern end of the Southampton airport site...

View attachment 50642

And as the camera pans to the right we see a tarmac'd area...

View attachment 50643

which corresponds with the Google Earth imagery...

View attachment 50644

And checking this against the position of the objects in the video... it gives us this line upon which the objects are seen....

View attachment 50645

It appears that the objects are illuminating the tree tops as they manoeuvre, this swould suggest that they are over the forested area 1.5km to the east of the airport. This is shown an the circled area below. For comparision, the Waltham Chase Aeromodellers site is shown at the top right, and although it is stillclose to the sightline, is closer to 9km away, which is quite far.
View attachment 50647

If you extend that line, it leads to the Odiham RAF Station.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Odiham#Royal_Air_Force

The [Odiham RAF] station is home to No. 7 Squadron, No. 18 Squadron and No. 27 Squadron, all operating the Boeing Chinook and forming part of the RAF's Support Helicopter Force.[24] The Chinook is a heavy-lift helicopter used for tactical troop and load movements and casualty evacuation across the battlefield. The aircraft can carry up to fifty-five troops or around ten-tonnes of mixed cargo either internally or as an under-slung load.

The Chinook Display Team is also based at the Station.

The aircraft in the OT video are not 26 miles away (over Odiham), but they are along a direct flight path from Odiham... and I think that's significant. I think they are simply low flying military helicopters on training maneuvers.

From the Odiham RAF Station website:
https://www.raf.mod.uk/our-organisation/stations/raf-odiham/flying-info/

Night flying is an essential part of our aircrew's training syllabus and low-light conditions enable our crews to gain the appropriate currencies and training they require to prepare them for their commitments on operations both in the UK and overseas.

Realistic training at night is essential to ensure aircrew are proficient in the necessary skills and to exploit our technological edge. The amount of night low flying remains proportional to the operational requirement. Careful consideration goes into the timing of night flying; however it is not always possible to avoid some disturbance to those on the ground.

If you need to make a complaint about low flying within 5 miles of RAF Odiham, please contact RAF Odiham's Engagement Team:
Email: ODI-BSW-Engagements@mod.gov.uk

If the incident occurred more than 5 miles from RAF Odiham, your complaint should be directed to the Ministry of Defence Low Flying Complaints and Enquiries Team:
Email: SWK-lowflying@mod.gov.uk

Phone: 01780 417558

It is available from Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. Outside these hours an answerphone service is provided.

It's easy to find any number of local news stories over the years about low flying military helicopters. One example:
https://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/1...y-aircraft-causing-sleepless-nights-weymouth/

MILITARY helicopters have been flying over Weymouth and Portland late at night – sparking some sleepless nights from residents.

RAF Chinook and Puma helicopters have been heard flying over the area every night since Sunday, April 18 from around 10pm onwards.

Residents have reported hearing the aircraft, particularly around the town centre, Chickerell, Wyke Regis and around Portland.
A spokesman for RAF confirmed these are 'essential' training exercises to ensure its crews are 'ready' for future operations.

Chinook and Puma helicopter crews use a variety of helicopter landing sites and training areas around the whole of the UK for training and vary their routes and training locations to 'maximise training benefit'.

(This story includes a YT video which seems to show nothing more than an astronomical body, btw.)
[h3][/h3]From the OP

The video shows many lights, going backwards and forwards, sometimes shining down onto the trees below (see 1:02 to 1:08). The observer confirmed that there was no noise. One can see the lights move along smoothly at a constant velocity and then suddenly accelerate. For instance look at the left light from 5:30 onwards suddenly accelerate off the left-hand side of the video.

They're not accelerating... they're turning. Much of the "back and forth" motion is actually circling. I think this is a misperception by the author of 3-D motion as being 2-D motion.

Turning also explains why the lights are bright or dim. When the spotlights are pointed at the camera, they appear brighter.

There's no noise because they are miles away. Perhaps 5 miles?



From the OP

The lights seem much more agile than helicopters.

A naïve opinion.

Chinook Display Team, Royal Air Force, RNAS Culdrose Air Day 2015



The OP author also mentions that no navigation lights are visible. I don't think that's true. They are just much less visible than in the YT video "Military helicopter spotted flying in night sky."

The two videos are not comparable. The helicopters in the "UFO" video are more distant, they are a different type of helicopter, and the UFO video has lower resolution.

 

[johne1618]

Chinook Display Team, Royal Air Force, RNAS Culdrose Air Day 2015

I still think the lights are fixed to craft that are more maneuverable than Chinooks.

 

[johne1618]

They're not accelerating... they're turning. Much of the "back and forth" motion is actually circling. I think this is a misperception by the author of 3-D motion as being 2-D motion.

At 5:33, when the left-hand light accelerates away from the other light, I don't think that is due to an optical illusion caused by the camera having an edgewise view of both lights following a circular trajectory.

 

[flarkey]

I agree that the apparent motion and acceleration of the objects is probably due to the edge-on vote of their circular flightpaths. However I think the motion is not what I would expect from a Chinook.

 

[JMartJr]

No, but I was surprised at the "agility" of a chopper the size of a Chinook. Smaller machines would presumably have even more.

 

[Rocky]

This looks to be a big nothing burger.

 

[Landru]

At 5:33, when the left-hand light accelerates away from the other light, I don't think that is due to an optical illusion caused by the camera having an edgewise view of both lights following a circular trajectory.

Based on what?

 

[NorCal Dave]

A naïve opinion.

Chinook Display Team, Royal Air Force, RNAS Culdrose Air Day 2015

That video is most impressive! CalFire has, or contracts with, several Chinooks and they routinely fly over during fire season, but they just look like big lumbering trucks in the sky.

I still think the lights are fixed to craft that are more maneuverable than Chinooks.

That assumes that only Chinooks were operating at the time. In 2015, Puma and Chinooks were first integrated into single unit, but one would think they often trained together.

The first Royal Air Force Chinook helicopters have moved to RAF Benson to join their Puma counterparts.

The combined Puma and Chinook Operational Conversion Unit will operate as '28 Squadron', with around 150 personnel and their families set to move to the base over the coming weeks.

It's hoped having both aircraft based at the same location will provide the personnel there with the best possible learning environment, with the base already home to state-of-the-art training for support helicopter aircrew.

www.forces.net/services/raf/chinooks-swoop-join-forces-pumas

Here's a Chinook operating with a smaller, and more agile(?), attack helicopter (AH64?) providing cover:

www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/the-boeing-chinook/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=chinook-blog&utm_content=organic

And here is a short YouTube video of Chinooks and Pumas training together:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFYdvB9_3Ng


And according to this blog, the RAF Chinooks were updated for night flying in 2003, just 2 years before the video was claimed to have been taken:

In 2003 they received the ability to operate in darkness with better navigational units, thermal imagers, moving map displays and night vision goggles. During the invasion of Iraq that year, a formation of five Chinooks spearheaded a joint forces assault with the US Marines on the Al Faw Oil refinery to prevent an act of environmental terrorism by Iraqi forces. Over the next three days the Chinooks averaged 19 flying hours a day. This was the largest helicopter assault in RAF history and the first opposed helicopter assault since the Suez Crisis in 1956.

www.rafmuseum.org.uk/blog/the-boeing-chinook/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&utm_campaign=chinook-blog&utm_content=organic

So we have:
1. Z. W. Wolf establishing that there was an RAF base within line of site of the security camera.

2. The airbase in question is home to a number of Chinooks, including the RAF display team.

3. At the claimed time of the video, the nearby Chinooks had only recently been upgraded for extensive night operations. Likely necessitating extensive training?

4. There is at least some evidence that Chinooks sometimes train or operate with other, smaller, helicopters.

5. This whole thing is based, as usual, on some late '90s/early '00s era security camera footages showing moving lights with no sound. Chinooks have a distinct sound.

Helicopters training at night near their home base makes a lot more sense than does flying saucers or glowing orbs of energy wizzing around the UK countryside.

 

[flarkey]

Just another twist on the model flying hypothesis.... we showed earlier that the objects could have been over Itchen Valley Country Park...

... There's an Itchen Valley model flying club....

http://ivfg.co.uk/Index.html

 

[Ravi]

Helicopters, very likely. Chinooks? Nuts.