Encounters with the Unknown—Alternate Perceptions Magazine, November 2024
A Brazilian pilot who encountered a huge pyramid-shaped UFO on October 5, 1996
by: Michael Wysmierski
Editor’s Note: Here's a remarkable Brazilian UFO case shared with me back early in 1997, by Michael Wysmierski, editor of The Brazilian UFO Report, out of Londrina, Brazil. located in the state of Parana.
"Now, as those of us who research the UFO phenomena know, finding a credible witness to a UFO sighting/encounter is not always easy," Michael explained. "But pilots, overall, make excellent witnesses to a UFO sighting. They are, in general, well educated, psychologically well balanced (think about that the next time you're flying on a plane), quite knowledgeable about aircraft performance (they know what it can and cannot do), excellent observers (they know what they are looking at), are very familiar with the heavens, and a great number of them have military flying experience. As a matter of fact, the more flying experience a pilot has, the more credible his/her testimony is concerning a UFO sighting/encounter. People know that when an experienced pilot says he's seen a UFO, he's really seen a UFO. Pilots, and believe me when I say this, do not like to go out on a limb by telling people they have had an experience with a UFO, as it may possibly lead to labeling (they're crazy), ridicule, loss of employment, etc., unless, quite rightly, they are absolutely certain that their experience has no other explanation. So, when a pilot tells me he's had an experience with a UFO, I sit up and listen, which leads me to Haroldo Westendorff's story.
"Haroldo Westendorff was born in Brazil in 1958. By the time he turned 19 (1977) he had received his pilot’s license and was airborne in the skies of Brazil. Today, 20 years later, besides being the owner of a rice processing plant in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, he is the bi-champion of airplane acrobatics in Brazil. It is customary for him to fly his single engine EMB 712 plane (1980) around the state of Rio Grande do Sul on weekends, usually for pleasure. He is, without a doubt, a very experienced pilot. But in all his years of flying experience he had never seen or had an encounter with (a UFO).
"It was on that cloudy day that Haroldo Westendorff took off at 9:00 AM from the airport in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul. Not long afterwards, he was flying over Clube de Caca e Pesca (the Hunting and Fishing Club) and soon after that he began to head towards Praia do Laranjal (Laranjal Beach), which is situated on the outskirts of Lagoa dos Patos (Duck Lake). At about 10:30 AM he decided to return to the airport at Pelotas. He was flying at an altitude of 5,500 feet (1,800 meters) when he looked off to his left and saw something very strange in the sky. A huge pyramid-shaped UFO.
"Westendorff was stunned and he couldn't believe what he was seeing. According to the aviator, the otherworldly craft was turning slowly on its own axis, soundless, without emitting any smoke. He immediately began to fly in the direction that the craft was moving - East, towards the Atlantic Ocean at about 100 km/h (62 mi/h) - to get a more detailed look at it. As he closed in on the object, he described it by saying, 'It was enormous, gigantic really. It was shaped like a pyramid and had eight sides, each one of them had exactly three prominent bulges, which constituted the windows.' (1)
"When Westendorff described the object as being 'enormous' and 'gigantic,' he wasn't joking. He estimated that the base of the object was about 100 meters (328.1 feet or 109.36 yards) in diameter, comparing its size to a football stadium, and its height to be between 50 to 60 meters (164.05 to 196.86 feet), which is the wingspan of a Boeing 747. This was definitely no man-made object.
"The pilot’s next move was to radio the control tower at the Pelotas airport to discover if they were aware of the huge UFO.
"Airton Mendes da Silva was on duty in the air traffic control tower of the Pelotas Airport when Haroldo Westendorff radioed in the UFO sighting. He grabbed the binoculars and quickly made visual contact with the strange looking craft, confirming the pilot’s sighting. He then called the objects attention to two other people in the tower, and they too confirmed the sighting. Airton described the craft by saying, '....the object was triangular in shape and the top of it was rounded.'
"After Haroldo received a positive response on the sighting from the air traffic controller at the Pelotas Airport, he radioed the radar station in Curitiba, which is operated by Cindacta, the Brazilian entity that monitors the air space over Brazil, to describe the sighting and to provide them with a signal to confirm his position/coordinates.
"The radar control center in Curitiba reaffirmed that the aviator was flying at a distance of 35 miles from the eastern sector of Pelotas and that there were no other planes or any other flying objects within a 200-kilometer radius of his position. (2)H
"Haroldo made the incredible decision to fly around the huge pyramid-shaped craft, which, quite possibly, is something only an airplane acrobatic champion would even think of doing.
"As Westendorff began to maneuver around the huge UFO, his cellular telephone began ringing. It was a friend calling. 'Gu... Gu... Guess what I'm flying around?' Harold euphorically asked his friend in his usual stuttering manner. And before his friend had a chance to answer him the pilot said, 'It's a flying saucer!'
"Not exactly your everyday telephone conversation!
"After speaking with his friend, the aviator's telephone rang again, only this time it was his son, Haroldo Junior, who quickly noticed that his father had difficulty in expressing himself during their conversation. The aviator's speech problem was due to the mixture of fear and excitement coursing through his body. The boy immediately handed the telephone over to his mother. 'What is it that you have?' asked his worried wife. Haroldo then gave her a quick picture of what he had encountered. His wife, whose mind was now overwhelmed by this incredible image that her husband had flying before him, prudently told him to be very, very careful. The pilot then decided to make a second trip around the immense UFO.
"As Haroldo made his way around the enormous ship, the whole strange incident got a whole lot stranger. The dome on top of the pyramid-shaped craft opened. 'I was circling the base of it when I noticed that the dome opened. I don't know how, but I imagine that it must have retracted,' recounted the pilot. Haroldo's heart began to race. Suddenly, a saucer-shaped craft, about three times the size of the aviator's airplane, exited from the gigantic ship. The pilot watched in amazement as the saucer rose vertically, without making a sound. A moment later, the disc-shaped craft came to rest at a 45-degree angle, and then it took off at an astronomical speed towards the Atlantic Ocean.
"Three or four seconds later, the enormous mothership started emanating reddish beams of light that could be felt as waves of heat. The aviator then began his third and final trip around the UFO, this time circling the top of it to see what was inside the ship. It would also prove to be the most dangerous flight around the enormous pyramid-shaped craft.
"Haroldo was flying about forty meters away from the huge craft when he realized that it was beginning to spin. Suddenly, the ship started to spin faster and faster and faster. 'At this moment I began to panic. I thought I was going to die. I was just waiting for the explosion that would certainly destroy my plane,' said Westendorff. But the pilot kept his presence of mind and began emergency procedures, all the while thinking about the immense blast of air that would be produced, arising from the vacuum caused by the gigantic UFO.
"The enormous craft was now spinning at an incredibly frightening speed, looking like it would explode at any second, and then, suddenly, without making any noise, it took off at the unbelievable speed of 12,000 kilometers per hour.
"Westendorff and his plane were unaffected by the exit of the enormous ship. He couldn't believe he was alive and that his plane was intact. The explosion he was waiting for never happened.
"Out of curiosity, the pilot took his plane up to 9,000 feet, passing through a layer of dense clouds, to see if he could find any traces of the UFO or the flying saucer. As there was no sign of either of them, he flew back to the airport in Pelotas.
"After Haroldo's arrival at the airport, the aviator looked up a friend of his who is an artist and asked him to make some sketches of the enormous UFO and the saucer that exited from it, which he gladly did. 'The drawings came out so perfect that I will save them forever,' declared the aviator.
'Haroldo's 30-minute encounter with the gigantic UFO left him with this to say, 'I'm certain that what I saw had nothing to do with this planet.'
"And for anyone who doubts that Westendorff's story is true, the pilot said, 'I know what I saw, because I was 40 meters away from that object. No one can get me to deny it.'
References:
1. Although Haroldo Westendorff called them windows, he never made any mention of being able to see through them.
2. Just because the huge UFO did not show up on the radar of Cindacta does not mean it wasn't there. Today, the United States government has stealth aircraft which does not appear on radar. So, just imagine what an alien/extraterrestrial civilization might be capable of manufacturing. Besides, the fact remains that Haroldo Westendorff was not alone in his sighting of the pyramid-shaped craft. Airton Mendes da Silva, the air traffic controller at Pelotas Airport, and two other people confirmed the sighting by Westendorff.
