Investigations of Unidentified & Radar Sightings East Coast South Island — December 1978

This document is a compilation of declassified files from the New Zealand Defence Force regarding Unidentified Flying Objects (UFOs) and Unidentified Aerial Sightings (UAS) reported between 1978 and 1981, specifically focusing on the Kaikoura sightings of December 1978. The file contains internal correspondence, reports from the Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF), technical reports from the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), and independent reports from the New Zealand UFO Studies Centre. The primary incident involved a SAFE Air Argosy freighter on a newspaper delivery run, where the crew and passengers, including a television film crew, reported multiple visual and radar sightings of anomalous lights. The investigation concluded that these sightings were likely caused by natural phenomena, including the planet Venus, lights from Japanese squid fishing boats, and atmospheric conditions such as temperature inversions causing radar ducting and light refraction. The document includes detailed logs of radar contacts, transcripts of communications between the aircraft and Wellington Air Traffic Control, and technical analyses of film footage taken by the crew. The Ministry of Defence maintained that there was no evidence of unexplained physical objects or threats to national security, attributing the sightings to a combination of astronomical events and atmospheric anomalies.