AN EX-PILOT has been left stunned after spotting a mysterious black UFO flying overhead in the evening sky.
John Baxby had been heading back to a wedding reception in St Helens, Merseyside after stepping out for a coffee on Saturday when he eyed the inexplicable object.
Initially believing it to be a paraglider, the 52-year-old was left scrambling for answers when he inspected it closer and realised it was completely the wrong shape.
With over 23 years as a paraglider pilot, the engineer believes himself to have a “trained eye” for spotting things in the sky, but is devoid of an explanation for this one.
Images snapped by John show a grey cloudy sky overhead, with a black, round ‘balloon-like’ object hovering high above among the evening clouds.
Attached to the bottom of the object is a black crescent shape,
The object, which allegedly flew over Class A controlled airspace in Liverpool, is thought to have also been seen flying over the Doncaster and Manchester areas.
John took to social media on Sunday to share the mysterious photos, writing: “Something flying west of St Helen’s, Merseyside. 20:38, 29th April 2023.
“As it was getting dark, no navigation lights and in Class A controlled airspace.
“Looks like some sort of balloon, drifting in the direction of the wind, north to the south and maintaining altitude, approx 2,000-3,000ft (hard to judge from this distance).
“Much smaller than a hot air balloon. I’m a paraglider pilot with 23 years of experience, so I have a trained eye in spotting things that sort of shape in the sky.
“Zoomed in and unedited photos attached. On the unedited photo follow the lower line of clouds from left to right and it’s there.
“There was a notice to airmen for tethered balloon/kite flying at Cleveleys near Blackpool this weekend, but that is a kite surfing location.”
The post received dozens of likes and comments as many UFO enthusiasts shared their two cents on the floating object.
One person wrote: “I’ve seen a few things that I couldn’t explain. I am a believer there is something out there.
“I’m always looking up.”
Another said: “Can you imagine what we miss when the majority of the time we don’t look up in daily life?”
A third joked: “Men in Black trying to take people out at once, eh?”
A fourth added: “That’s strange.”
Speaking to John today he said: “On Sat 29th April, I had stepped out of a wedding reception in St.Helens town centre & walked across to a fast food restaurant for a snack and coffee.
“When I was returning, I looked up to the horizon to the west of the town, just as it was getting dark and saw what I can only describe as a weird balloon shaped object in two parts – a canopy above and something suspended below.
“It was approx 2,000ft up, maintaining height and drifting slowly with the wind to the south, heading towards Liverpool.
“The reason I first looked was because I thought it was a parachute or paraglider and was roughly the same size.
“On looking closer, the shape was completely different. A parachute/glider has an aerodynamic wing flying above and harness for the pilot suspended below.
“This object had more of a rounded canopy (or envelope) like a balloon and something suspended below.
“I’m a paraglider pilot of 23 years experience, so I have a well trained eye in spotting objects of that size and shape in the sky.
“My main concern is that that object was within Class A controlled airspace for Liverpool Airport, in which paragliders and balloons are forbidden to enter.
“At least two jet airliners were coming in to land when I was walking back to the wedding. I wonder if Liverpool Airport ATC had it on radar?
“I managed to take a couple of photos and zoom in before it drifted out of sight.
“The only things I can think of is an unregistered home built aircraft, a large inflatable balloon, some kind of ‘toy’ or a model.
“I wouldn’t have thought a spy balloon would be flying so low, so to me it is still unidentified.”
