Kazakhstan: Tajik Air 747 crew watches maneuvering bright object for 40 minutes
On 27 January 1994, before dawn, the American chief pilot of Tajik Air and two American colleagues flying a Boeing 747SP at 41,000 feet over Kazakhstan near 45°N 55°E watched an intensely bright object approach from the east at much higher altitude and maneuver in circles, corkscrews and 90-degree turns for about 40 minutes; the pilot took photographs, and at sunrise the aircraft flew under contrails the object had left, estimated at 100,000 feet.
Background
The unclassified cable 94 DUSHANBE 259, sent by the U.S. Embassy in Dushanbe to the Secretary of State on 31 January 1994 with copies to embassies in the region, CIA and DIA, relays a report made on 29 January by the chief pilot of Tajik Air, a U.S. citizen, and his two American pilot colleagues. On 27 January, flying a Boeing 747SP at 41,000 feet at about 45° north and 55° east over Kazakhstan, they first saw the object as a bright light of enormous intensity approaching from over the eastern horizon at great speed and at a much higher altitude. They watched it for some forty minutes as it maneuvered in circles, corkscrews and 90-degree turns at rapid speed; the captain took several photos with a pocket camera and promised copies to the embassy. As it was dark, the crew could not discern a shape; they described the emitted light as having a 'bow wave' resembling a high-speed photo of a bullet in flight. After some time the object adopted a horizontal high-speed course and disappeared over the horizon, and about forty-five minutes after the first sighting, as the sun rose, the aircraft flew under contrails the object had left, which the captain estimated at roughly 100,000 feet and whose paths reflected the maneuvers. The crew rejected the embassy's meteor suggestion, citing years of experience with falling stars and space debris; the captain expressed the opinion that the object was extraterrestrial and under intelligent control, while the embassy commented that it had no opinion and reported the matter 'for what it may be worth'. The details are taken from the records released by the U.S. Department of War (record code DOS-UAP-D2) and do not represent an independent determination by From Beyond Space.