Ōhura, New Zealand: Bright sphere paces pilot's plane, its compasses spin wildly
At 3:02 p.m. on 2 February 1973 Capt. Peter Telling, flying a Grand Commander at 10,000 feet near Ōhura, North Island, New Zealand, was paced for 20–25 seconds by a sphere of intense bluish-white light about 90 feet away while his direction finder and compasses spun wildly.
Background
Capt. Peter Telling was flying a Grand Commander aircraft at 10,000 feet near the radio beacon at Ōhura, North Island, New Zealand, when he thought he had a fire in the starboard engine. While assessing the situation, he saw a sphere of intense bluish-white light more than 20 feet in diameter appear about 90 feet away, its light, "much like a welding arc," illuminating the cockpit. The object paced the plane for 20–25 seconds, then accelerated away. While it was near, the automatic direction finder and both the gyroscopic and magnetic compasses spun at about 12 rpm, and all directional equipment stayed out of action until the plane passed near Whanganui. Eberhart cites NICAP, The UFO Evidence, vol. 2, and the NARCAP study of pilot reports with electromagnetic effects by Richard F. Haines and Dominique F. Weinstein. The account follows the entry in George M. Eberhart's chronology UFOs and Intelligence (CUFOS) and the sources cited there; it is not an independent determination by From Beyond Space.