The Alitalia MD-80 Kent Encounter (1991)

On April 21, 1991, Alitalia pilot Captain Achille Zaghetti was flying a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 passenger aircraft from Milan to London Heathrow at 22,000 feet over Kent. What he saw next would become one of the best-documented commercial aviation UFO encounters of the decade: a three-meter-long khaki-colored object passed approximately 300 meters from his aircraft. The object was tracked on radar, providing the crucial confirmation that separates credible cases from mere observation. A professional pilot from Grosseto, Tuscany, Zaghetti reported exactly what he witnessed - and radar proved something was there.

The Flight

The Aircraft

The platform:

• Alitalia flight
• McDonnell Douglas MD-80
• Commercial passenger aircraft
• Milan to London Heathrow route
• Professional airline operation
• Full passenger load

The Pilot

Captain Achille Zaghetti:

• From Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
• Experienced airline captain
• Professional aviator
• Trained observer
• Flying MD-80 regularly
• Credible witness

The Encounter

Location and Altitude

Where it happened:

• Over Lydd, Kent, England
• Altitude: 22,000 feet
• During approach phase
• English Channel area
• Clear observation conditions
• Close to destination

The Object

What Zaghetti observed:

• Approximately three meters long
• Khaki-colored
• Passed approximately 300 meters away
• From his aircraft
• Clear visual observation
• Distinct, structured object

Description Details

Characteristics:

• Small but clearly visible
• Unusual coloring
• Not conventional aircraft
• Not bird or debris
• Solid, defined shape
• Moving independently

Radar Confirmation

The Key Evidence

What made this significant:

• Object tracked on radar
• Not just visual observation
• Electronic confirmation
• Data matched sighting
• Multiple sensor detection
• Proof of physical object

Why Radar Matters

The importance:

• Visual can be mistaken
• Radar confirms physical presence
• Provides speed and trajectory
• Eliminates hallucination
• Documents the event
• Creates official record

The Investigation

Official Response

How it was handled:

• Pilot filed report
• Radar data preserved
• Incident documented
• Standard protocols followed
• Commercial aviation encounter
• Taken seriously

Documentation

The record:

• Captain Zaghetti’s testimony
• Radar recordings
• Flight data
• Timing confirmed
• Location verified
• Part of official files

Significance

Commercial Aviation Context

Why it matters:

• Passenger aircraft involved
• Professional pilot witness
• During routine commercial flight
• Near-miss proximity
• Radar confirmation
• Safety implications

The Professional Witness

Zaghetti’s credibility:

• Airline captain
• Career depends on accuracy
• No reason to fabricate
• Everything to lose from false report
• Filed officially
• Maintained account

Near-Miss Implications

The Proximity

300 meters:

• Extremely close encounter
• At 22,000 feet altitude
• Commercial passenger aircraft
• Potential collision course
• Terrifyingly near
• Safety concern

Air Safety

What it meant:

• Unknown objects near airliners
• No collision avoidance possible
• No communication
• No identification
• Danger to passengers
• Uncontrolled airspace presence

The Pattern

Aviation Encounters

Context:

• Part of ongoing phenomenon
• Pilots seeing unknowns
• Commercial and military
• Over UK airspace
• Throughout 1990s
• Pattern of sightings

Similar Cases

Other encounters:

• America West 1995
• Belgium Wave intercepts
• JAL 1628 Alaska 1986
• Increasing aviation reports
• Growing documentation
• International phenomenon

The Question

April 21, 1991. 22,000 feet over Kent.

Captain Achille Zaghetti is flying an Alitalia MD-80 from Milan to London Heathrow. Below, the English countryside. Ahead, his destination. Behind him, passengers reading, sleeping, trusting him to get them there safely.

Then something passes his aircraft.

Three hundred meters away. Close enough to see clearly. Close enough to describe.

Three meters long. Khaki-colored. Solid. Moving. Not a bird. Not debris. Not anything in the aviation manuals.

Zaghetti is a professional. From Grosseto, Tuscany. An airline captain. He knows what aircraft look like. He knows what belongs in the sky at 22,000 feet.

This doesn’t belong.

He reports it. Files the paperwork. Does everything by the book.

And radar confirms it.

Whatever passed 300 meters from a passenger aircraft full of people was tracked electronically. It wasn’t imagination. It wasn’t misidentification. It was there.

Something small. Something khaki-colored. Something unexplained.

Three hundred meters from an airliner.

That’s close. At that altitude, at those speeds, that’s terrifyingly close.

What if it had been 200 meters? One hundred?

What was a three-meter khaki object doing at 22,000 feet over Kent?

Where did it come from?

Where did it go?

Captain Zaghetti knows what he saw.

The radar proves something was there.

But what?

April 21, 1991.

Over Kent.

Passengers reading magazines.

And something passing the aircraft.

Something no one can explain.

Something that was almost too close.