Within Pilot Sighting
What Did the Nolinor Crew See?
The core sighting rests on a professional cockpit report of a colour-changing light, but the public description remains brief and limited.
On this page
- Flight route and timing near Mary River
- The red, green and white light description
- What the report leaves unmeasured
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Introduction
The most important fact about the November 2018 Baffin Island sighting is also the easiest to overlook: the public record contains only a very short description of what the Nolinor Aviation crew actually saw. Despite later headlines about a “UFO”, the known witness account amounts to a professional cockpit observation of a bright light that appeared to change colour while the aircraft was flying toward the Mary River mine area in northern Baffin Island. The report is noteworthy because it came from airline pilots operating in a remote Arctic environment, but the publicly available details remain limited. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.compilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island…
Understanding exactly what was reported—and what was not reported—is essential when assessing the strength of the case within Nunavut’s UFO history.
Flight Route and Timing Near Mary River
The sighting occurred on 24 November 2018 during a Nolinor Aviation Boeing 737-200 flight travelling from Iqaluit toward the Mary River mine. According to reporting based on the aviation occurrence record, the crew observed the light at about 8:30 p.m. local time while operating over the remote northern part of Baffin Island. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.compilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island…
The location matters because the flight was not operating in one of Canada’s busiest air corridors. The Mary River region is a sparsely populated Arctic area where there are relatively few ground witnesses and little opportunity for immediate independent confirmation. As a result, the cockpit observation itself became the central piece of evidence. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.compilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island…
Public reports do not indicate that the crew reported a collision risk, evasive manoeuvre, loss of separation from another aircraft, or any operational emergency. The sighting entered the aviation reporting system, but the available descriptions focus on the unusual light rather than on any direct threat to the flight. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.compilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island…
The Red, Green and White Light Description
The most detailed public account came from comments relayed by Nolinor vice-president Marco Prud’homme after speaking with the pilot. According to Prud’homme, the pilot described a shining light that changed from red to green to white. That colour-changing behaviour is the single most specific observational detail that reached the public record. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
Importantly, the pilot did not publicly describe a structured craft, visible wings, a disc-shaped object, occupants, or any other dramatic feature often associated with popular UFO stories. The known description concerns a light rather than a clearly observed object. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
Prud’homme also stated that the pilot considered ordinary explanations possible. He said the light may have been a star or a meteorite and suggested it was “probably something natural.” That comment is significant because it came from the airline’s own account of the witness conversation rather than from outside sceptics attempting to explain the sighting after the fact. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
This leaves the core observation in a relatively narrow form:
- A bright or shining light was seen from the cockpit.
- The light appeared to change colour from red to green to white.
- The sighting occurred during a night flight near the Mary River area.
- The pilot himself apparently considered natural explanations possible. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
What the Report Leaves Unmeasured
The weakness of the public evidence is not that the pilots lacked credibility. Professional flight crews are trained observers, which is one reason the case attracted attention. The problem is that the public description lacks many of the measurements investigators would normally want. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.compilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island…
No publicly available account provides reliable information about:
- The object’s distance from the aircraft.
- Its altitude.
- Its size.
- Its speed.
- Its direction of travel.
- Whether it appeared stationary or moving.
- Whether it was tracked by radar.
- Whether photographs were taken. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.compilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island…
Those missing details make it difficult to distinguish between very different possibilities. A distant astronomical object near the horizon, a meteor, an atmospheric effect, another aircraft, or something genuinely unidentified can all appear as unusual lights under certain viewing conditions. Without distance or motion data, the colour changes alone are not enough to determine which explanation is most likely. [Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
Why the Witness Account Remains Important
The Nolinor report remains one of Nunavut’s better-known aviation UFO cases precisely because the source was a commercial flight crew rather than an anonymous witness. Yet the actual observation is much more modest than later retellings sometimes imply. The strongest claim supported by the public evidence is that experienced pilots reported seeing an unusual light whose apparent colour changed from red to green to white during a night flight over northern Baffin Island. [Nunatsiaq News+2Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
What keeps the case unresolved is not the presence of extraordinary evidence, but the absence of enough detail to reach a confident conclusion. The report is credible as a record of what the crew believed they observed, while remaining too limited to establish exactly what produced the light. [Nunatsiaq News+2Nunatsiaq News]nunatsiaq.comour top 10 stories of 2018Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s…
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Further Reading
Books and field guides related to What Did the Nolinor Crew See?. Use these as the next step if you want deeper reading beyond the article.
The UFO Experience
Analyzes witness reports and classification of unexplained aerial events.
The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects
Discusses how official reports are gathered, interpreted, and assessed.
Skunk Works
Provides aviation and aerospace context useful when considering unusual aerial observations.
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Endnotes
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Source: nunatsiaq.com
Title: pilots report ufo sighting over nunavuts northern baffin island
Link: https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/pilots-report-ufo-sighting-over-nunavuts-northern-baffin-island/Source snippet
24, as they flew from Iqaluit to the Mary River mine in north Baffin Island...
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Source: nunatsiaq.com
Title: 65674pilots spot possible ufo above nunavuts northern baffin island
Link: https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/65674pilots_spot_possible_ufo_above_nunavuts_northern_baffin_island/Source snippet
Pilots report UFO sighting over Nunavut's northern Baffin...27 Nov 2018 — The pilot told him that he saw a shining light, which changed...
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Source: nunatsiaq.com
Title: our top 10 stories of 2018
Link: https://nunatsiaq.com/stories/article/our-top-10-stories-of-2018/Source snippet
Nunatsiaq NewsOur top 10 stories of 201831 Dec 2018 — Marco Prud'homme, Nolinor's vice-president, said the pilot told him that he saw a s...
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Source: assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
Link: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5422fa73ed915d137400079d/2-1989_G-AYWB_and_EI-BIZ_Append.pdfSource snippet
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Title: safety board calls for changes after deadly helicopter crash in nunavut 8310432
Link: https://www.sudbury.com/national/safety-board-calls-for-changes-after-deadly-helicopter-crash-in-nunavut-8310432Source snippet
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0M1J9qQX1TQ -
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Title: nolinor ramps up capacity for rising northern demand 832715291
Link: https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/nolinor-ramps-up-capacity-for-rising-northern-demand-832715291.htmlSource snippet
Nolinor Ramps Up Capacity for Rising Northern Demand13 Feb 2024 — Nolinor Aviation has announced the reintroduction of a Boeing 737-200 a...
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Source: aerotime.aero
Title: 22481 lion air cvc content leaks pilots scoured handbook
Link: https://www.aerotime.aero/articles/22481-lion-air-cvc-content-leaks-pilots-scoured-handbookSource snippet
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Title: a brief look at what happened in aviation in 2018
Link: https://www.facebook.com/flightradar24/posts/a-brief-look-at-what-happened-in-aviation-in-2018/2083272831712129/Source snippet
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Source: reddit.com
Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1htxlhm/26_year_pilot_just_witnessed_something_i_cannot/Source snippet
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