TAE (Trabajos Aéreos Y Enlaces)
TAE (Trabajos Aéreos y Enlaces) was a Spanish airline that operated flight JK 297 during the Manises UFO Incident on November 11, 1979—the first recorded case in aviation history of a commercial flight being grounded due to a UFO encounter.
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The Manises Incident
On November 11, 1979, TAE flight JK 297, a Super Caravelle aircraft carrying 109 passengers, was en route from Salzburg, Austria to Las Palmas with a refueling stop at Mallorca. At approximately 23:05 hours while cruising over the Mediterranean Sea at 23,000 feet, the crew—consisting of Captain Javier Leo de Taha, co-pilot Jose Ramon Zarazua Ingore, and flight mechanic Francisco Javier Rodriguez—observed two powerful red lights that matched the aircraft's altitude changes and maintained close proximity despite evasive maneuvers.
After Barcelona Air Traffic Control confirmed no other aircraft were in the area, and recognizing that continued flight near the unidentified objects violated aerial safety protocols, Captain Javier made an emergency landing at Manises Airport in Valencia. The incident prompted a military response, with Spanish Air Force pilot Fernando Kamaro scrambled in a Mirage F1 to intercept the objects.
Significance
The TAE flight JK 297 incident set a precedent as the first documented case of a commercial airliner being diverted and grounded specifically due to UFO proximity concerns. The case reached the Spanish Parliament in September 1980, where it was officially dismissed as optical illusions, though it remains one of Spain's most famous UFO cases.