What happened
On the evening of November 11, 1979, a Caravelle of the Spanish airline TAE, with 109 passengers on board, was flying from Palma de Mallorca to Tenerife. At about 11 p.m., Captain Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada saw two bright red lights that rapidly approached the aircraft and circled nearby, performing maneuvers impossible for any known aircraft. Alarmed, the pilot decided to land at Manises Airport near Valencia. Airport staff also claimed to see the lights, and air defense radar reportedly picked up unidentified returns. A Mirage F1 fighter took off from Los Llanos Air Base, and its pilot, Captain Fernando Cámara, reported lights that changed color and distance. The case was widely discussed in the Spanish media.
Witnesses
The crew of the TAE aircraft, led by Captain Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada, staff at Manises Airport, radar controllers, and Mirage F1 pilot Fernando Cámara.
Explanations and hypotheses
The declassified files of the Spanish Air Force did not settle the matter. Researcher Juan Antonio Fernández Peris pointed out that the red lights may have come from the flare stacks of the refinery at Escombreras near Cartagena, and that the fighter pilot probably saw stars and planets. The radar returns were attributed to spurious reflections. Captain Lerdo de Tejada maintained that the lights were not a ground-based phenomenon.
Disputed A likely explanation exists, but some of the facts are still disputed.
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