It has been over three weeks since a UFO scare shut down Xiaoshan airport in Hangzhou, China for over an hour on July 7th. Although the incident has made international news headlines, there is still no official response from authorities in China. The airport spokesman had little information for the reporters soon after the event, however the press was told that they would receive more information after an official investigation. Whether an official investigation is being conducted, nor the results of any such investigation, have been shared with the public.
The latest development was the release of research results by the Beijing UFO Research Organization (BURO). BURO conducted a joint investigation with Shanghai UFO Research Organization Director Lou Jinhong and Deputy-Director Bai Tao, surveyed Hangzhou’s Xiaoshan airport, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) Zhejiang Administration Bureau, East Regional Air Traffic Management Bureau under CAAC, CAAC East China Regional Administration and other departments. They found that among the many videos and pictures that have been reported to be connected to the airport sightings, only one has any actual relation. That picture was taken by a Hangzhou citizen a couple of hours after the airport sighting that had resulted in the shut down. As speculated by other researchers (see related Open Minds article on the picture and video analysis here), BURO found the picture to be an airplane and not something out of the ordinary.
The team also did not find any evidence that the Xiaoshan UFO was seen on airport radar. They admit that without photo or video evidence of the actual event, it can not be determined what was seen that night.
In a related note, the People’s Daily Online reported that since the Xiaoshan airport incident, major media outlets in China have reported 8 UFO sightings in the past month. Although, researchers have stated that two of these sightings were misidentifications of planes and kites, the others have gone unanswered.
References:
