Juan Reyes Rodríguez, a former airline commander - he retired from Air Europa, a company on which he flew numerous transatlantic routes - will present on Sunday at The Ufology World Congress in Barcelona his conclusions on the UFO sighting he made on 12 March 1997, when he was returning to Spain from New York in a Boeing 757/200 of the aforementioned airline.
Commander Reyes, who has 27,000 flying hours, claims that there is a base of unidentified flying objects called Delta 82, in the sea off the city of Vigo. One of these huge craft, which he estimates to be the size of the island of Gran Canaria, hovered below his plane as it entered the mainland before it began its descent, with its final destination in Madrid.
Commander Reyes is also an expert investigator of aircraft accidents and incidents, an expert for COPAC (Official College of Commercial Aviation Pilots) and a judicial expert for the Community of Madrid. One of his latest investigations is related to the disappearance of the Malaysian commercial airliner, flight MH 370, of which he is convinced that one day its passengers will return to earth and that the aircraft was captured by a huge extraterrestrial craft.
He also claims that the Spanish government is aware of the existence of this UFO base in the sea off Vigo and that the information is in the possession of "the men in black" of the CNI. He has proof of what he says and has gathered numerous testimonies from witnesses, with a strange common denominator: none of them want to be recorded.
On the night of his encounter with the huge craft, he reported to Madrid air traffic control what was happening, as did the commander of an Iberia plane flying behind him, with ten minutes to spare, from Montreal to Madrid. Both commanders saw and reported exactly the same thing.
The report that Commander Reyes presented to his OPS director was as follows: "I inform you that last 12 March 1997, when we were returning with the AEA (Air Europa) 118 JFK-Mad line, in position N 42 26.9 W 009 31.2 radial 295/50NM from LEVX, at 04.14 hours, we reported to Madrid control a really strange unidentified object". And he continues: "From our altitude FL 390, in full VFR conditions we observed a circle (like the island of Gran Canaria, fully illuminated), with a lot of light and two very strong spotlights in the middle. All this glow was visible through a light layer of clouds (calima or smoke), perfectly delimited". And he concludes: "This was the conversation with Madrid control, which was also confirmed by the crew of IB 6010, DC-10, Montreal-Madrid, at 04.30 hours".
The huge craft was located over the sea, in the area known as Delta 82. No notams (information notes distributed worldwide) had been published about air activities or military manoeuvres in the area, as required.
Fishermen in the area report strange lights and huge ships entering the sea cleanly, without even causing waves. There are witnesses in Vigo and Pontevedra. The plane's radar, at maximum approach power, did not detect anything, neither with the antenna in manual nor in automatic mode.
The director of The Ufology World Congress informs Commander Reyes, in the letter of invitation to the scientific meeting in Barcelona, that "your experience and knowledge have been a source of inspiration for the scientific community". He has been invited as a keynote speaker at the congress.
Juan Reyes Rodríguez, a native of La Guancha, Tenerife, is currently 73 years old and is one of the great Spanish experts in the study of ufology, which in recent times has achieved great notoriety worldwide. He has taken part in various programmes on the dissemination and investigation of the UFO phenomenon, such as Cuarto Milenio, during whose intervention the programme reached a large audience.
