fs translation
German Air Traffic Control was faced with an airborne mystery: Was it a pilot error that night? The spy drone of a foreign army? Or even space invaders?
The fact is an unknown flying object was tracked on Monday night [Jan 19] moving extremely slowly at some 50 knots (about 90-100 km/h) through the sky and was detected on radar screens by members of the atc but failed to respond to radio requests.
Tower-Chief Helmut Montag revealed: "There was no transponder signal (radio transmitter), as is required for night flying," and a police helicopter was even dispatched, spending some 20 minutes looking in vain for the UFO.
Air traffic control spokesman Axel Raab reported: "When approaching the airport, a pilot reported seeing some lights at an estimated height of around 2000 meters."
21.42: The UFO suddenly disappeared from the radar screen when traveling toward Welzheim (Schwäbischer forest).