Documents / FOIA release
This Central Intelligence Agency Domestic Collection Division report, distributed 18 November 1976 and marked unevaluated, describes a light seen from British European Airways flight 831 from Moscow to London on 10 September 1976. Over Lithuania at about 33,000 feet, the crew saw a blinding, stationary, yellowish light below the aircraft that lit the clouds for 10 to 15 minutes. When the pilot asked Soviet authorities to identify it, they gave no identification and suggested he should not ask questions.
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# Domestic Collection Division Foreign Intelligence Information Report COUNTRY USSR DCD REPORT NO. DD-E-324/33601-76 SUBJECT Aerial Observation of Intense Source of Light DATE DISTR. 18 NOV 1976 NO. PAGES 1 DATE OF INFO. September 1976 THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION SOURCE 1. An unusual incident was observed during a 10 September 1976 British European Airways (BEA) flight (number 831) from Moscow to London. Between 1800 and 1900 hours, the aircraft was cruising at an altitude of approximately 33 thousand feet (9,900 meters), apparently inside the border of Lithuania, when a blinding, single source, constant intensity, and stationary light was observed off the starboard flight path of the aircraft. The light's distance was estimated to be approximately 10 to 15 miles (16 to 24 kilometers) off of the aircraft's path and approximately five to six thousand feet (1,500 to 1,800 meters) below the aircraft, somewhat above a lower cloud layer. The light, which resembled a sodium vapor lamp (yellowish in color), and which was too intense to view directly for any period of time, completely lit the top of the lower cloud layer, giving it a glowing cast. 2. The light was of such interest that the BEA pilot came onto the aircraft's intercom network, stated that he was somewhat concerned over its presence, and said he had asked the Soviet authorities for an identification of its source. The Soviet authorities came back with a negative identification response, suggesting that he should not ask questions. The light was observed for approximately 10 to 15 minutes, until the aircraft had flown past and left the light source behind.
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. The text was read from the page images by GLM-OCR; expect the odd misread word. 2 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.