Kaikōura lights: two December nights, aircrew, radar, film and competing analyses

Witness account

The principal episodes occurred on the nights of 20–21 and 30–31 December 1978. Aircrews reported lights off the South Island coast, with air-traffic and aircraft radar observations also discussed. Television footage from the later flight made the event internationally famous. Combining both nights into one encounter loses differences in personnel, position and available evidence.

Public record

Released NZDF file AIR 1080/6/897 includes interviews, technical discussion and the 11 January 1979 report. Investigators considered unusual propagation, known radar behavior, astronomical lights and fishing vessels. The photographs required attention to focus and aircraft-window effects. Bruce Maccabee’s optical analysis appeared in Applied Optics in 1979, followed by critical comments and a reply.

Sources

• NZDF AIR 1080/6/897 volume 1, 1978–1981, released 2010
• Bruce Maccabee, Applied Optics 18(15), 2527–2528, 1979
• Ireland and Andrews, comments, Applied Optics 18(23), 3889–3890, 1979