A UFO, strange glowing orbs, and a dog are just a few of the bizarre things a British Airways pilot has encountered while cruising at 30,000ft above sea level. The experienced captain, from Cumbria, has been flying commercial airliners for 18 years and during that time has built up thousands of air miles. He currently flies BA's most modern airliner; the Airbus A350-1000.
During his career, as well as visiting almost every country in the world, the pilot has seen some incredible sights from his cockpit. These include the Northern Lights, a phenomenon known as a Brocken Spectre and, just last week, a cloud with an uncanny resemblance to a dog.
He said: "As the pilot was flying from Sao Paulo in Brazil to London Heathrow, he clocked an unusual cloud while passing over Brasilia. I often see images of people or animals in clouds but by the time I've got my camera out we've passed them."
"I've seen clouds like flying saucers but the most impressive thing we see regularly is the shadow of the plane in the cloud with a rainbow around the nose called a Brocken Spectre. This happens when the sun is on one side of the aircraft and cloud is on the other side below the aircraft; often with blue sky above.
"The 'spectre' is the shadowy image of the aircraft and the glow and rings are a glory centred directly opposite the sun at the anti-solar point. We often see these on days where there is low stratus cloud and sunshine above.
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The mesmerising views the pilot witnessed across his careerHe told LancsLive: "Lenticular clouds, like the one that looks like a UFO, are often formed by Mountain Waves, or air in a stable layer passing over mountains that continue in a kind of SIN wave pattern downwind. Cloud forms when the temperature and dew point are equal in a particular layer or altitude and a cloud that is continuously forming and disappearing appears. It looks like the cloud is stationary from the ground.
"Over the years many people have confused these clouds for UFOs. I've been flying aircraft for over 30 years and commercially for 18 and have seen many strange cloud shapes.
"I'd say the most common clouds that stand out are ones that look like giant teddies or strange-looking faces resembling old men or witches. These are cumulous clouds which often go onto grow into cumulonimbus clouds (CBs we call them) which are what cause most thunderstorms.
"As a pilot the one thing we always try to avoid are cumulonimbus clouds. Flying through one of these can cause damage to the aircraft as they nearly always contain hailstones. Planes have had windscreens cracked and radomes broken by hail so they're always best given a wide birth.
On the subject of thunderstorms the pilot also revealed a sure sign a plane is about to be hit by lightning - something modern aircraft are designed to withstand. "When we fly near to thunderstorms we get a phenomenon called St Elmo's Fire," he said.
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