Robert Guard

Robert Guard was an experienced co-pilot with 7,000 flight hours who, together with Captain Bill Startup in an Argosy freight plane, conducted a newspaper delivery flight between Wellington and Christchurch. During that flight on 30/31 December 1978 off the Kaikoura coast he observed luminous objects as part of the famous Kaikoura Lights incident — accompanied by simultaneous tracking on the Wellington air-traffic-control radar.

• Co-pilot with 7,000 flight hours of experience
• Flew with Captain Bill Startup in an Argosy freight plane
• Newspaper delivery flight between Wellington and Christchurch
• Observation of luminous objects on 30/31 December 1978 off the Kaikoura coast
• Involved in the famous Kaikoura Lights incident
• Simultaneous tracking of the objects by Wellington air-traffic-control radar
• Pilot-plus-radar combination as the core of the case's evidence

For the UAP timeline, Guard is the co-pilot witness who, together with Captain Startup and the Wellington radar record, elevates the Kaikoura Lights case into one of the best-documented UAP sightings of the southern hemisphere — and thereby provides a global reference point for the debate around simultaneous visual and radar tracking.