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Country dossier

UFO sightings in New Zealand: documented cases, reports, and evidence

New Zealand has 1 documented UFO/UAP case in this archive, spanning 1978 to 1978. This page groups the national record so readers can compare case dates, evidence types, official context, and representative reports before opening the full dossiers.

Archive profile

New Zealand

Case count
1
Time span
1978
Main evidence types
Witness reports / Official records / Images and video / Radar or sensor data / Aviation context
Representative cases
Kaikōura lightsThe Kaikōura lights were not one continuous encounter. New Zealand's declassified RNZAF file separates reports on the night of 20-21 December 1978 from a television-assisted newspaper flight on 30-31 December. Named SAFE Air crews described unusual lights; Wellington air-traffic radar and aircraft weather radar produced returns during parts of both episodes; and cameraman David Crockett filmed lights on 31 December. The records do not establish a single object tracked continuously by eye, radar and camera. The official investigation attributed most observations to anomalous propagation, astronomical or surface lights, shipping and radar effects, while acknowledging that a few details remained inconclusive.

Complete case list

New Zealand

1 of 1 cases
Kaikōura lightsThe Kaikōura lights were not one continuous encounter. New Zealand's declassified RNZAF file separates reports on the night of 20-21 December 1978 from a television-assisted newspaper flight on 30-31 December. Named SAFE Air crews described unusual lights; Wellington air-traffic radar and aircraft weather radar produced returns during parts of both episodes; and cameraman David Crockett filmed lights on 31 December. The records do not establish a single object tracked continuously by eye, radar and camera. The official investigation attributed most observations to anomalous propagation, astronomical or surface lights, shipping and radar effects, while acknowledging that a few details remained inconclusive.New ZealandGrade B / DISPUTED