 An unidentified flying object is seen in this photo taken by a resident in Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, at 9 pm on Wednesday. Provided to China Daily |
SHANGHAI - The unidentified flying
object that disrupted air traffic in Hangzhou for an hour on Wednesday
remains, well, unidentified.
The object disrupted eighteen flights at
Hangzhou airport
"No conclusion has yet been drawn," said Wang
Jian, head of air traffic control with the Zhejiang branch of the Civil
Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
Some media have speculated the UFO might
be a private aircraft, based on the increasing number of
privately-owned aircraft in Zhejiang province.
But Wang said the possibility it was a
private plane was "just a guess."
A source with knowledge of the matter,
however, told China Daily earlier that the object had a military
connection.
A staff member at Xiaoshan Airport in
Hangzhou said a twinkling object was first spotted over the city's sky
around 8:30 pm on Wednesday. However, the object did not show up on the
airport's radar.
Xiaoshan Airport was then closed at 8:45
pm over security concerns, and only resumed operation at 9:41 pm.
A dozen inbound flights were diverted to
nearby airports and six outbound flights were delayed for three to four
hours.
According to an estimate by
Shanghai-based Evening News, more than 2,000 passengers were affected.
It was the first time an airport in
China has been shut down on such short notice due to a UFO, said a staff
member with the CAAC of East China, who declined to be named.
"We should first find out how the owner
got the approval to fly the object," said the staff member, adding "even
a fire balloon needs to get the authority's permission before lifting
off."
The twinkling object could have been a
light below the horizon reflecting on an airplane flying very high,
given good visibility in the sky, said Zhu Dayi, who works at the
Shanghai Observatory, adding such phenomena usually happen around an
hour after sunset.
"If the speed of the twinkling object is
extremely high, it could be a military aircraft," he said, "But no
conclusion can be drawn now, as the information is limited."
According to airport staff, it is still
not clear which authorities should be held responsible for dereliction
of duty - if there were any. The CAAC of East China and the airport
divide their areas of responsibilities according to the craft's
altitude.
As to who should pay for losses to the
airline companies whose flights were diverted, an industry insider said
those costs should be borne by the owner of the unidentified object.
China Daily
(China Daily 07/10/2010)
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1 comment:
Its look like a UFO in the movie. Hope is not a real UFO...
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