The Skövde case

From time to time video pictures of bright triangular objects are shown on TV and investigated by ufologists. Many times the objects are not identified but shown as a true unidentified flying object and even flying saucer. This article shows that these triangles have mundane explanations.

By Clas Svahn

A triangular object filmed over the city of Skövde in central Sweden July 10th 1999 has much to learn UFO investigators. After a lenghty investigation UFO-Sweden's investigators came up with an answer that at first seemed both far fatched and unlikely. Here is the full story of the strange looking craft that nearly defied an explanation.

It was just after ten on the evening of July 10th 1999 when Rolf Wallinder and Britt-Marie Gullberg observed a very bright object from Miss Gullbergs balcony in the western part of Skövde in central Sweden. The sun was still at the northwestern horizon setting in just a couple of minutes when Mr Wallinder first observed the bright object in the southeastern part of the sky. At first he didn't think much about it but soon he realised that this was something out of the ordinary and told Miss Gullberg, who was sitting with her back to the object, to take a look.

- It was very, very bright with sharp edges, says Rolf Wallinder when interviewed a couple of days after the observation. First we thought it to be the landing lights from an approaching aircraft, heading for Skövde airport not far away in the northeast. But after three or four minutes I realised that the object was stationary and hadn't moved a bit. Rolf Wallinder asked Britt-Marie Gullberg to get his video camera that was laying on the floor not far away. He took the camera, a Sony digital camera with 48X zoom lens, turned it to the bright object and started filming right away. Through the lens he could see that the object was more than a bright light; it was triangular with many lights on its rim and a mysterious black dot at the base of the triangle.

- I was lucky to get the triangle in the camera right away, as soon as I started filming, says Rolf Wallinder. After just 7-8 seconds it vanished. Britt-Marie thought she could see it fly to the south at a very high speed after I lost it in the view finder.

When the object was gone Mr Wallinder checked his wrist watch. The time was 10.20 PM. Six days after the observation Rolf Wallinders video was shown on a local TV station (TV4 Skaraborg). The video is eight seconds long and taken in daylight. The lighted triangle was filmed at high digital magnification, which the effect that the picture is divided into separate pixels. When shown on TV these pixels were interpreted as "lights" on a craft. A triangular "shadow" of light could also be seen hanging under the object. UFO-Sweden's investigation started July 19th with interviews with both of the observers. They were consistent in there tellings and there was no doubt that the observation was of a real object. But what kind of object? Through several articles in the local newspapers UFO-Sweden successfully located two additional observers to the event. Both of them made their observations from positions not far from Rolf Wallinder and Britt-Marie Gullberg. This was an important fact. If the object had been luminous or was carrying lights around its rim it should have been spotted from other parts of the city as well. The observers being situated in a narrow line going from the object, to the setting Sun indicated that we could very well be dealing with some kind of reflection on a metallic body.

Four main theories were investigated:
1. That it was a mirage caused by the Sun shining on a aluminium roof far away reflecting on layers of cold air. Data from the meteorological instutite of Sweden (SMHI) showed that this evening was indeed perfect for creating mirages and since a large body of water, Lake Vättern, over which cold air was trapped, was situated to the East of Skövde in line with the observed object, this could very well be the case.
2. A hang glider with a motor travelling over Skövde and reflecting the Sun from its triangular wings. This theory was investigated since at least one such hang glider was observed over Skövde some days before the observation. UFO Sweden investigators contacted more than 50 hang glider pilots in the area with no success in connecting their flights to the time of Rolf Wallinders film.
3. A model airplan reflecting tha Sun. Since Skövde had a club for model airplane flying and their air field was situated in the general direction of the observation we contacted the president who denied that there had been any activity on the 10th of July 1999.
4. A small airplane reflecting the Sun.
Theory number four seemed to be the most interesting.

On January 13th 2000 UFO-Sweden made a film of our own to see if we could recreate the effect seen on the original video sequence. With the help of Lars Hjärnered and Bertil Mattsson at Sony's service department in Spånga outside Stockholm, we tested a camera of exactly the same model as the one used in Skövde. When Lars Hjärnered pointed the camera towards a bright lamp on a building 300-400 metres away, something strange was seen for a fraction of a second. On the TV screen to which tha camera was connected a small perfectly formed triangle was formed from the light from lamp. We continued to film the lamp during out of foucs conditions and now all of us could see the triangle. The similarity to the film from Skövde was not only striking, but exact. To make sure, Lars Hjärnered zoomed in to the light a few more times, now with the camera slightly out of focus. The effect became even clearer. We also did a similar experiment with a different model of camera, with different results. The form of the "object" changed from model to model. And the effect lasted only during the time the camera was set out of focus. At this point we decieded to dismantle to camera. When the Sony technician took the camera apart, it showed that the triangular effect was produced by the shutter. The "ghost" picture - the triangle hanging under the main object - was caused by a transparent ND filter placed in the shutter.

- ND filters, or Neutral Density filters, are used when you are filming in bright light, and at the same time want to use as large aperture as you can, explains Bertil Mattsson. The filter takes away some of the light and allows the aperture to open up. To be certain, we also measured the angles of the triangle on the original film and compared them with the shutter opening. Both were approximately 35 degrees. From this it was clear that the shape of the object on the Skövde film had been caused by the camera, and not by an actual object.

It is important to note that the effect only shows itself when one films a light source without focusing. If in focus no triangle can be seen. When Rolf Wallinder grabbed his camera to film the shining light, his camera's autofocus didn't activate itself. Since he never had the time to adjust the focus manually and immediately saw the object in the lens he started filming right away. When you film directly out into the air, the camera cannot find anything to focus on, so leaves itself in the unfocused position, just as it was when Wallinder first picked it up. Now we had an explanation to why the object looked triangular. But what kind of object hade Rolf Wallinder filmed? With the help of new radar pictures obtained by UFO-Sweden from the Ministry of Defence, one can see a Cessna aircraft moving directly opposite the observers, which is also actually directly opposite the setting sun. The Sun set at 10.25 PM at 320 degrees, which means that for some minutes the observers and the aircraft were almost directly in line with the Sun. A solar reflection on the plane's window would therefore reflect directly at the observers. The pilot was traced thorugh the local air field and an interview with him confirming that the Cessna SE-IIN was flying on this course at this time. The aircraft was painted white which could have helped creating a reflection. Here we should for a moment return to the observers' descriptions of what they saw, and then compare them with the movements of the Cessna: Rolf Wallinder describes how he, for 3-4 minutes, saw a bright light which seemed to hang stationary in the sky in the East (bearing 121 degrees). After he had filmed for 7-8 seconds, the object swung to the right of the observers' position. At approximately 10.21 PM, a small aircraft emerges to the left of the observers and moves towards the area where the triangle was seen. This aircraft then makes a turn to the left towards Skövde airport.

Here follows a description of the private plane's movements:
A Cessna aircraft (SE-IIN) moves on a course 118 degrees towards Northwest at 10.07-10.09 PM (radar picture first begins at 10.07) directly towards the setting sun and directly opposite the observers.
At 10.09 PM the Cessna swings to the right as seen from the observers' position.
At 10.12 PM the Cessna is to the left of the observers and moves in towards the area where the object seemingly pauses.
The plane then swings to the left for some minutes, then lands at Skövde airport.

As we can see the time on Rolf Wallinder's statement does not correspond exactly with the Cessna. There is a time difference of 12 minutes. This makes Mr Wallinder himself reluctant to accept UFO-Sweden's explanation. But all data is pointing in the direction that the object filmed by him was the Cessna SE-IIN heading for Skövde airport. According to radar pictures no other aircraft was in that area during the specified time and SE-IIN was the last aircraft to land on Skövde airport on the evening of the observation. This indicates that the aircraft seen by Mr Wallinder at the end of his observation must have been SE-IIN. Since Mr Wallinder's video was shot a couple of minutes before observing this "unknown" air craft it is clear after comparing with the radar pictures that the only object flying in the area at that time was SE-IIN. The radar pictures also confirms Mr Wallinders and Miss Gullbergs description of what they have seen. It is common that observeres are mistaken when asked about the exact time for their observation. The problem is often that they do not remember exactly when looking at their watch. In this case it is difficult to say if Rolf Wallinder checked the time after loosing the triangle in the camera, after seeing the air craft coming to his left or even some minutes later. That the bright light seemed to hang still in the air was due to the aircraft moving directly towards the observers, which made it difficult to see any actual movement. The distance of the aircraft during the initial phase of the observation was 8-15 kilometres. The likelyhood that the object on Rolf Wallinder's film is this particular aircraft is very high.

Translation: Eileen Fletcher and Clas Svahn