By Barry Ellsworth
TRENTON, Canada (AA) – The skies above Canada were fertile ground for what could be UFOs with at least 17 reports filed in 2023, according to media reports, Friday.
The sightings came from all over Canada, from credible sources such as pilots and crews from various airline companies, including WestJet, Air France and British Airways.
At least 17 reports of unexplained sightings were confirmed in 2023 by CTV News and are contained in an online aviation incident database maintained by the federal government’s Transport Canada.
Last February, two airlines reported strange sightings of lights in the sky much higher than usual flight paths on the same night over the province of Quebec.
"It looks like it's more than one and sort of circling," a crew member aboard a cargo flight from Chicago to Luxembourg told air traffic controllers in Canada, according to audio obtained by CTV. “It’s a bit weird.”
But a second source reported the sighting, too.
"Just to let you know there was a flight from the south… they saw the same thing roughly a half-an-hour ago," an air traffic controller told the Luxembourg-bound cargo flight on Feb. 12.
"So, I guess we’re not just dreaming then, huh?" the aviator responded.
"No, you’re not the first on tonight, " the air traffic controller said.
Canadian skies seem to be a favorite haunt of unexplained objects that could be UFOs. Since the year 2000, Transport Canada has received more than 315,000 reports of civil aviation incidents.
In the United States, UFOs, now often referred to as "unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)" have been looked into during congressional hearings.
In Canada, the country’s top scientific advisor created the Sky Canada Project with plans to make public a UAP report later this year.