Presenting nine cases of triangular (air)craft witnessed in NZ skies, with characteristics and unusual circumstances surrounding the sightings.

Case One:

Date: Tuesday 19 and Wednesday 20 March 2013
Time: 4 am; 12 midnight
Location: Dome Valley, Warkworth, North Island, New Zealand (a rural bush-clad area)

In the early hours of the morning,19 March, a woman was in bed awake when she felt a tremendous shock wave hit the outside of her wooden house, moving across the back of the building, rattling the iron roof and windows. Within a split second she heard a loud explosive sound accompanied by a vivid blue flash of light. The sound came from the bush-clad hill directly behind their house.

By now her husband was also awake and they ventured outside with torches for around ten minutes, thinking there may have been a plane crash or perhaps a meteorite had struck the ground. It was a clear night and nothing untoward was visible, so the pair returned to bed somewhat puzzled. At that point they clearly heard several large trucks pass their house and come to a stop a short distance away, parallel to where the explosive sound had occurred. The witnesses commented this was unusual at that time of the night.

The witness holds her illustration of the triangle against the patch of sky where she saw it.

The next morning the couple found their phone line was not operating and called a technician to check for faults. They also discovered their fax machine was burnt-out, with the circuitry melted and the technician later told the couple their phone line was “fried” over a distance of 5 km to the substation. Normally this kind of fault could be caused by lightning strike however there had been no such weather in the area overnight. Three servicemen had to be called over a period of four weeks because the phone, fax, and Eftpos machine continued to malfunction.

At around midnight on 20 March, the following evening, the woman was up late watching TV, while her husband had gone to bed. She suddenly heard an extremely loud sound like jet engines thrusting that seemed to “come out of nowhere”. She ran outside onto the veranda at the back of the house thinking (for a second time) that a plane was about to crash, as the engine noise sounded “odd”.

The witness was shocked to see a large (isosceles) triangular (air)craft at close proximity to the rear of the house (around 200-300 meters distant and around 150-200 meters in altitude ), slowly rising above the treetops roughly where she and her husband had heard an explosive sound the previous night. The ‘nose’ was pointing slightly upwards and the (air)craft was “drifting” sideways, as if sliding through the air. It slowly turned as if on a pivot and moved behind trees for a few seconds. At this point the witness yelled to her husband however much to her dismay, he slept through the entire incident.

The woman watched the (air)craft for around 20 seconds as it drifted and changed direction, which she described as “seeming to be orientating itself” or alternatively, “searching for something”. It moved right over the top of the house, tilted its nose upwards and rose (now more quietly) slowly up the ridge-line behind

Witness’s illustration of the underside of the triangular (air)craft.

the house, briefly pausing near a transmitter mast positioned on the top of the hill. From there it gained altitude rapidly and the witness described how it suddenly shot away at phenomenal speed and disappeared within seconds.

The witness described the underside of the craft as flat and smooth, a pale pearly metallic colour, which may be attributable to the reflection of lights underneath the craft. There were three reddish-orange ‘rings’ with black centres, one at each point, which resembled hot glowing metal (like after burners) rather than actual lights. In the centre of the underside was a white strobe light, rotating in a circular movement and casting an intermittent short beam of light. When the (air)craft was drifting over the hillside, the entire underneath of it was also illuminated by white neon-like strips of light in a distinct pattern or formation. As it moved above the house and gained altitude the neon lights went out, leaving only the three red circles and the central strobe light. The triangle looked dark in the nightlight and the witness noticed the top of the (air)craft looked like a fighter jet, with a slightly raised area.

Both witnesses were fearful of possible consequences arising from these incidents if they went public about them. They were aware of worldwide reports of ‘black triangles’, many attributed to ‘alien craft’. However they felt the object the woman observed was possibly an advanced military aircraft rather than of other-worldly origin, based on the fact it was “noisy” (as opposed to reports of completely silent black triangles or UFOs). Alternatively, it may have been experiencing technological or mechanical difficulties.

The witness later stated: “After thinking about these incidents for several weeks, I think the two are connected. I believe an aircraft of some strange type put down on the hill behind us, or was forced to land for some reason. It possibly remained there all the next day and then took off vertically from the bush directly behind us the following night.”

However the hill behind the house is covered with dense bush, although the witnesses are aware of several large natural clearings on the hillside, but difficult to reach on foot.  Why the triangular (air)craft appeared there in the first place is a mystery, as is whether the two consecutive incidents are related, and why it was seen rising from the hillside where the explosive sound occurred the previous night.

If this was a secret advanced foreign military (air)craft, why was it in New Zealand’s airspace and was our MOD, Air Force and Whenuapai Radar base (Auckland) aware of its presence?

A search of the internet reveals speculative information about ‘alien’ black triangles, as well as descriptions of suspected top secret military aircraft and their capabilities. In particular, some descriptions of the US (existence officially denied) TR-3B resemble the (air)craft seen by the witness, although she thought it was an isosceles-shaped triangle rather than equilateral, and it was not silent. However the TR-3B is reputed to have dual propulsion systems, both anti-gravity and conventional, and is purported to be a high altitude reconnaissance platform with an outer coating that can change its reflective status, radar absorbency, and colour. It is interesting to note unverified comments about the TR-3B on internet sites describe that at times, a corona of silver-blue light glows around the circumference of the TR-3B, which brings to mind the witness’s description of a localized bright blue flash of light.

These two incidents occurred in the Dome Valley, which is positioned on a horizontal ‘grid line’ across northern New Zealand. The planetary harmonic gridline theory was formulated mathematically by the late Capt. Bruce Cathie, a retired New Zealand airline pilot and author of several books on the subject. Capt. Cathie proposed that the majority of UFO sightings occur worldwide on these gridlines, as do other anomalies. For many years the Dome Valley has been synonymous with UFO sightings, anomalous lights, and reports of objects ‘buzzing’ cars. Significantly, given the March 2013 incidents described above, a retired freight train driver has

Bush area behind the house with transmitter mast at centre top of hill.

reported to us that some of the drivers did not like the nighttime run through the Dome Valley, which was considered to be ‘eerie’ and often unexplained flashes of bright blue light were seen.

To the west of the Dome Valley, on the same grid line, lies the Kaipara Harbour, a hot-spot for UFO sightings to this day. In 1965, Capt. Cathie’s interest in UFOs was piqued during a flight over the harbour when he observed what he at first believed to be a stranded whale in an estuary. As he veered his DC-3 aircraft for a closer look at the object, it became evident to him that it was a cylindrical metallic structure, perfectly streamlined and symmetrical in shape, resting on the bottom of the estuary. After he filed a Flight Report, the Royal New Zealand Navy told Capt Cathie it would have been impossible for any known model of submarine to have been in that particular area, due to the configuration of harbour and coastline. This was New Zealand’s first official report of a USO (unidentified submerged object).

Of possible relevance to the March 2013 events is the fact that one of New Zealand’s main satellite communication stations is situated some 8 km south of the sighting location, near the town of Warkworth. Similarly, our South Island satellite communication station is situated in the Waihopai Valley near the township of Blenheim. Again, this area lies on a Cathie harmonic gridline and UFOCUS NZ has received a considerable number of UFO reports from the Waihopai Valley area over the years.

Case Two:

Date: Sunday 11 August 2013
Time: 3 am
Location: Outram, near Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand.

Two witnesses had been sitting on the Outram Bridge and were about to proceed back to their parked car. A dull glow appeared around them which they initially thought must have been caused by a lightning flash however it was a clear moonlit night with stars visible.

The dull glow continued around them, growing in intensity before changing to a strobing spotlight alternating at an estimated 100-200 hertz between two colours – pinkish-red and blue – shining down on the startled men for several seconds before ceasing.

Vapour cone or ring around aircraft approaching the sound barrier.

They then observed an object surrounded by bright white light approaching silently, moving directly overhead the witnesses at treetop height. After pausing briefly, the light then tracked away along the valley at high speed, climbing on a northerly heading, accompanied by a ‘whooshing’ sound (this ‘wind’ sound is often reported in relation to sightings of triangular craft).

The white glow diminished as the object moved away revealing a dark triangular-shaped (air)craft emitting a green glow from beneath, with a yellow light on top of the object, its ‘nose’ pointing upwards as it gained altitude.

As the object departed up the valley at high speed it left a clearly visible circular vapour ring behind it (similar to the ‘vapour cone’ created by an aircraft a high speed, often seen as aircraft approaches the sound barrier), and this was followed by 3 or 4 more such rings before the object was lost from view (there was no sonic boom).

Both witnesses reported feeling groggy with physical tingling immediately following the event, and found the moments directly following the sighting were the hardest to recall, with full recollection of the event returning several hours afterwards.

Vapour cone or ring around aircraft approaching the sound barrier.

Previous NZ ‘black triangle’ cases on record:

May 2013: A dark triangular object was reported near Dunedin, South Island (where Case Two occurred). It had unusual ‘cross bars’ straddling the triangular shape which matched a similar report we had received in April from colleagues in Australia.

February 2012: Auckland. Two witnesses observed a large red-orange light approaching at speed, at some 600-800 meters altitude, descending silently low over the harbour. The orange glow diminished and the witnesses saw a large dark, dull grey triangle-shaped object, some 40 metres in width, with rounded points and a dome on top toward the rear. A single small red light was rotating in a circle underneath the craft.

December 2011: Christchurch. The witness sighted a large, fast-moving solid triangular body with dull red lights around the exterior or perimeter. He thought the triangle was equilateral. There were also other independent red/orange orbs surrounding the object.

January 2009: Hamilton. A witness observed an isosceles triangle-shaped craft with white lights in each corner, cruising low and silently over the outskirts of the city.

February 2009: Te Aroha, east of Hamilton. A farming couple observed a dark triangle, isosceles-shaped with white lights (as above), high in the sky heading east over the Kaimai Ranges. Two bright reddish-pink orbs were observed over Mt. Te Aroha as the triangle approached. Two minutes later the triangle was spotted by witnesses on the other side of the ranges on the Tauranga coastline, who observed it heading out over the sea. The orbs were no longer accompanying it.

August 2006: Two witnesses observed and photographed a large triangular object moving silently over bush-clad hills near Wellington, shining a beam of light towards the ground.

March 2003: Two pilots walking on a North Island beach at night observed a dark triangular object with green lights on each point, approaching silently directly towards them, low over the sea. It came to within 200 meters of the men before turning as if on a pivot, and continuing its course south along the coastline.

Suzanne Hansen (c) 2013

February 2012

December 2011

January 2009

March 2003

March 2003