Turkish Pilots Encounter UFOs Over Aegean

ATHENS, Aug. 8, 2001 -- -- Greek and Turkish air force pilots, sharing contested Aegean airspace, are used to seeing a fighter or two of their usually friendly adversary looping around them, or diving to intercept their patrol or training flights.

But for two Turkish trainee pilots, the aerobatics were different this time.

While on a routine training flight in a U.S.-made T-37 off the Turkish Aegean coastal town of Candarli, they suddenly had reason to call their home base control tower.

A bright object had approached their plane at high speed and reportedly gyrated around them for about a half hour.

The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet quoted their call: "Object approaching the wings. Now it's behind the plane ... now it's in front of us."

They told their controller and the regional war alert center of the Turkish army that the apparent Unidentified Flying Object had an unusual shape that looked like a cross between a cone and a disc.

Turkish air force sources said they were investigating. So were the neighboring Greeks.

The Turks were planning to report the encounter to international bodies — especially the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration.