On November 4, 1968, an IB-249 aircraft of the Spanish company IBERIA flew to Alicante from London via route B31, commander Juan Ignacio Lorenzo Torres, co-pilot Juan Seldran Garcia and flight mechanic José Cuenca Paneque.
Commander Juan Ignacio Lorenzo Torres began piloting aircraft at the age of 17, was an officer in the Spanish Air Force for 40 years, piloted the aircraft of King Juan Carlos de Borbón, was a combat pilot in the Sahara and director of an aviation school.
Simply put, he was a very experienced pilot with combat experience who could be classified as a high-level professional who had flown over 28,000 hours.
Juan Inacio Lourenco Torres
Crew Commander Juan Ignacio Lorenzo Torres:
“I was then the captain of the Caravelle. When we arrived in Barcelona the airport controller ordered us to descend, which was strange. But I thought it might be the planes crossing and that’s why they made us descend. So I told the co-pilot, Juan Celdran Garcia, to stand outside guard in case he saw a plane approaching us.
The controller later said that at a higher level they see an aircraft approaching us. We were at FL310 as we approached Barcelona, and the controller ordered us to descend to 280. That is to 28,000 feet (8.5 km).
There was some turbulence at this level and I asked the co-pilot not to let his guard down. After a while Juan warned me: ‘I see it.’ But it wasn’t another plane.”
It was a very bright light. Too powerful to be an aircraft’s sidelights. It came down from above and positioned itself in front of us. I told the co-pilot not to report the object yet, because it didn’t look like a normal aircraft.
The strange light came very close. It was only 10 meters in front of the nose of our aircraft. Suddenly, another light appeared in the center, similar to a ball of different shades. The color changed from white to blue and then to grayish.
The most curious thing is that it pulsed, as if it were “breathing”. It was as if it had its own life. At this moment, we also saw two other lights, a little smaller and of the same opaque color, located on the sides of the main one.
The object was flying ahead, keeping a clear distance and maintaining the same speed as us. There were three objects, a large one in the center and two smaller ones on either side, but they were so synchronized that they appeared to be a single object. The light was very bright.
Me, the co-pilot and the flight engineer looked at it and then we called the flight attendant over. And we asked if she saw this light too. She said yes and asked what it was. We said we didn’t know, we just wanted to make sure she saw it too.
Then the light went out. And then it came back on. The object approached us and, to our amazement, began to make incredible movements around the aircraft. But at such a speed that we could barely follow it with our eyes.
This went on for ten minutes. Then I contacted the controller: “For your information, I will tell you that we have an unidentified object that is approaching and moving away from the aircraft.”
Barcelona airport air traffic control asked us to provide a “transponder” which is a detection code on the radar. The UFO continued to make these incredible turns around us. Several turns and maneuvers that should have destroyed whoever was inside. No living being could survive such overloads.
It seemed to us that this object was alive. It reminded me of a giant human eye. These “veins,” or whatever they were, were intertwined and had a different hue. This light, as I said, was pulsating. I really associated this with something alive.
The UFO began to play around the plane as it pleased. It would go up, down, get closer, get further away, and perform direct or parabolic maneuvers. I have been flying since I was seventeen and I know that the human body cannot withstand G-forces above “5”. If this limit is exceeded, you will lose consciousness. It doesn’t matter what anti-gravity suit you are wearing.
This object violated all the laws of physics. It flew at right angles and drew hyperbolas, parabolas, then suddenly it jumped from one point to another. It was crazy.
We turned on all the lights on the plane and started signaling. It started responding in the same way. Every time we changed the light, it did the same. If we turned on the lights, it turned on too. It was clear that it was talking to us.
I asked her questions, first in English she didn’t answer, then in Spanish and I don’t know if she understood the words or read my mind, but when I said that 1 blink per question would mean “Yes” , and double blink “No” that’s what happened.
I asked UFO a total of about 20 questions to which I received light answers. But I cannot report all the questions asked because they made it clear to me that in order to avoid trouble I should not talk about it. Well, anything can happen, they told me in the special services: people slip in the bathroom or cross the street in the wrong place.
I can only name the first three questions I asked this UFO:
– Commander: Are you from this Galaxy?
– UFO: 1 flash of light
– Commander: Do you have friendly intentions?
– UFO: 1 flash of light
– Commander. Is it a manned ship?
– UFO: 1 flash of light
They were from our galaxy, they were friendly, but something bothered them about our nuclear technology.
Then the UFO took off. It just flew away. Later we disembarked. I was summoned by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Aleu Padreni, who at the time was in charge of the warning and control network in the Barcelona area.
The lieutenant colonel asked me a lot about the UFO encounter. At the time the military was very open and informed me that the Air Force commander was aware of what had happened and that the Siesta, Samba, Kansas and Embargo air surveillance radars had detected three unknown objects that were moving in unison with my aircraft at times.
Even the Bolero radar in Constantine, Seville, was able to detect the objects. It was even documented: they showed me the radar data and I even asked to give me this paper copy of the radar data and they gave it to me on the condition that this information would not be distributed.
After the incident began to leak to the press, Lieutenant Colonel Ugarte, along with another military man, came to my home in Madrid and demanded that I immediately give them “what you have and what does not belong to you.” I was forced to reveal the very radar records in which the approach of this UFO to my plane was recorded.
But it was too late, and the incident went beyond secrecy, and the press eventually found out. At that time, General Lacale was Minister of Aviation. And he said, “No, people are not ready for this yet. We cannot tell them about this.”
The case became official. An investigator was appointed in this case and the press was informed (in an official statement) “that the pilots saw the planet Venus”.
That’s all. What could I do? We tell what we saw, but we try to prove something. The co-pilot became the captain of a commercial airliner and he really wants to risk his career? No one wants to risk their career or their lives.
“You know the funny thing is that before all this happened to me, I didn’t believe in UFOs. This topic made me laugh a lot and those people who believed in UFOs made me laugh too… And now I’m sure THEY are there in our skies,” said Commander Juan.
“Considering the unattainable and incomprehensible technological capabilities they possess, I have no doubt that they are spaceships from other worlds.
“Will the day come when our civilization realizes that we are being visited by intelligent and super-technological beings? I hope that one day we will pull our heads out of the hole and abandon the current ostrich policy,” he added.
