1979 · airspace near Valencia and Manises airport, Spain
Manises: TAE flight JK-297 diverted and the Mirage chase
Mirror of the 12-page file · page 1 of 12 · war.gov file, via the ufotransparency.com mirror
Whennight of 11-12 November 1979 (about 23:10 local, per secondary sources)
Whereairspace near Valencia and Manises airport, Spain
Backing4 independent
Witnesses2 named
Evidenceofficial records
On the night of 11 November 1979, a TAE Supercaravelle charter on its way from Palma de Mallorca to Tenerife (flight JK-297) reported red lights that seemed to approach and follow the aircraft. The captain, Francisco Javier Lerdo de Tejada, made an unscheduled landing at Valencia-Manises. Airport staff on the ground also reported lights. In the early hours, a Spanish Air Force Mirage F-1 from Los Llanos (Albacete), flown by Capt. Fernando Cámara, was sent up. He chased lights for about an hour and a half without closing on them. The Spanish Air Force file on the case was declassified in 1994 and is held by the Ministry of Defence's Biblioteca Virtual de Defensa (BVD). I could read only the catalogue record of the main 147-page file. Its page images block automated access. I read a related 12-page file covering the 11, 17 and 28 November 1979 incidents, which deals mostly with a later Madrid scramble. The best-known prosaic explanation was proposed by Juan Antonio Fernández Peris: refinery flares and stars. Other researchers dispute it, and it has not been demonstrated.
Evidence, in date order (4)
- 1979Cuartel General del AireofficialCommunique saying the nature of the object was unknown Bautista and Cabello, "Caso Manises" (Informe OVNI, May 2000)
- 11 Nov 1979Miguel Morlan, Manises airport directorwitnessSaw the luminous object about 30 degrees above the airport Bautista and Cabello, "Caso Manises" (Informe OVNI, May 2000)
- 12 Nov 1979Capt. Fernando Camara, Mirage F-1 pilotwitnessChased the light for about an hour and a half and saw a truncated-cone shape Bautista and Cabello, "Caso Manises" (Informe OVNI, May 2000)
- 1994Spanish Air Force (BVD file, declassified 1994)official147-page Mando Operativo Aereo file on the Valencia incidents BVD main file record (BMDB20160070545)
How plausible · High
Named airline and Air Force pilots reported lights, the airport director saw them, and a declassified file records the diversion and scramble.
- ●●Access Direct observation or instruments.
- ●●No gain sought Nothing to gain.
- ●●Character record Trained professionals.
- ●●Independent convergence Independent sources agree.
- ●●Checkable details check out Released official records.
- ●●Fits the documented skeleton Fits the documented record.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.
On the record
- The 12-page file (official, read). It contains: A 1992 Mando Operativo Aéreo (MOA) message asking units to recover information on UFO cases, partly to counter "ocultismo", with a list of incidents. The Madrid scramble of 28 November 1979: An F-4 from Torrejón took off at 03:30 after the Villatobas radar (EVA-2) reported contacts at about 80,000 ft. The crew got no visual contact. They had four fleeting radar contacts, three of them elongated, diffuse echoes. Their radar warning receiver (RHAW) showed strobes in band I at 7:30 o'clock. Visibility was good and there was no interference. A letter from the Mando Aéreo del Centro saying the relevant logbooks had been destroyed after 6 months.
- What the main 147-page file says about the Manises flight itself. This could not be read here. A press summary (*El Debate*, 9 Dec 2024, secondhand) quotes the file: "No hubo contacto radar con objeto alguno", and says there were radio interference and some blockages ("blocajes") in the aircraft's alert system. It also says Cámara's pursuit lasted "hora y media" and he returned to Albacete short of fuel, as the object was not getting closer.
- Declassification. The 1994 release (JEMA 3216) is recorded in the BVD catalogue (official).
Claims
Two powerful red lights approached the Supercaravelle from the left, matched its climb from 23,000 to 28,000 ft, and stayed about 500 m away (chain: crew to Barcelona control on the night; later interviews with J.J. Benítez (*Incidente en Manises*, 1980) and others, summarised by Bautista and Cabello (2000). Not read in the official file here)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedCapt. Lerdo de Tejada and co-pilot Ramón Zuazu (flight engineer Francisco Javier Rodríguez also named)
Manises airport director Miguel Morlán saw the luminous object about 30° above the airport, and the runway emergency lights were switched on (firsthand (via secondary))firsthandSourced, unconfirmedMorlán, per Bautista and Cabello.
The EVA-5 air-surveillance squadron radar (Aitana, near Benidorm, Alicante) tracked up to five unidentified echoes following the airlinersecondhandSourced, unconfirmedBautista and Cabello. This conflicts with the official file as quoted by *El Debate* ("No hubo contacto radar con objeto alguno"). Unresolved; needs the 147-pag
Cámara located the light within minutes but could not close on it at about 1,000 km/h; at Mach 1.4 he began to gain and saw a truncated-cone ("troncónica") shape; he noted strange interference (to the Air Force (report in the main file, not read) and later to the press and authors. Quote via search results, not verified: "I know Escombreras very well…", rejecting the refinery explanation)firsthandSourced, unconfirmedCapt. Fernando Cámara
A communiqué from the Cuartel General del Aire said the nature of the object was unknown and that it "bien pudo ser una ilusión óptica", with no radar contactsecondhandSourced, unconfirmedquoted by Bautista and Cabello; not verified against the original.
Near the second object his avionics were jammed and his warning system showed a lock-on by a continuous-wave missile radar.The First Commercial Flight Grounded Due to UFOsfirsthandSourced, unconfirmedCapt. Fernando Cámara (as retold by UAP Gerb)
Where
airspace near Valencia and Manises airport, Spain
39.5°N 0.5°W
In The picture
On the recordThe firmest layer is the one trained observers and instruments wrote down. Belgian gendarmes watched silent lit triangles in 1989-90 and ground radars tracked the wave; the Air Force sent F-16s and released its own data, though a radar study it released in 2025 puts the fighters' lock-ons down to their tracking softw…
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Sources
- BVD main file record (BMDB20160070545)
- BVD related file (id 38290)
- Mirror of the 12-page file
- Bautista and Cabello, "Caso Manises" (Informe OVNI, May 2000)
- *El Debate*, 9 Dec 2024, on the Valencian declassified files
- J.J. Benítez, *Incidente en Manises* (1980). Cited, not read.