Pilots report unexplained aerial lights south of Cyprus

Nicosia, Cyprus. Pilots have reported unexplained aerial phenomena over Cyprus, including unusual lights seen by six crew members during a flight south of the island in 2023.

Dutch airline pilot Rob Ackermans told Euronews that the lights were observed during a flight from the Middle East to the Netherlands.

Crew observations

Ackermans said the phenomenon first appeared while the aircraft was south of Cyprus and remained visible for more than two hours.

“We saw a light suddenly become very bright and then slowly fade away,” he said.

He said one of three lights sometimes appeared to manoeuvre around the others. “It looked like a chase, what the air force calls a dogfight, and then two or all three would disappear again,” Ackermans said.

Possible explanations

The crew initially considered whether the lights could have been linked to a military operation over the Balkans.

Ackermans said the phenomenon remained visible in the same direction after the aircraft reached the Balkans. One colleague reported seeing the same phenomenon from the Netherlands the following day.

European monitoring

Euronews reported that the European Commission had become more active in monitoring UAP reports. It cited a response from the Commission’s defence department to two amateur astronomers in Malaysia who submitted images of 37 unexplained objects.

The reports concern phenomena officially described as UAP, a term increasingly used instead of UFO.