Kaikoura Lights
1978 lights filmed by a TV crew off New Zealand’s coast
| Kaikoura Lights | |
|
[ IMAGE PLACEHOLDER ]
illustrative placeholder | |
| Date | December 30-31, 1978 |
|---|---|
| Location | off Kaikoura, New Zealand |
| Type | Sighting / Film |
| Status | Partly explainedDisputed |
A cargo plane crew and an accompanying television news crew filmed unusual lights maneuvering off the New Zealand coast over two nights, footage that received extensive international broadcast and became one of the most widely seen UFO films of the 1970s.
Assessment
Scientific analysis afterward attributed some of the filmed lights to Venus and to the lights of local squid-fishing boats reflected and refracted through the aircraft’s windows, though investigators, including the New Zealand Defence Force, acknowledged this did not fully account for every segment of film, particularly instances of apparent radar corroboration reported by air traffic control. The case is generally regarded as partly, not fully, explained.
[1]See also
References
- ^ New Zealand Defence Force, Kaikoura Lights investigation summary, 1979.