British police helicopter reports UFO

BIRMINGHAM, England, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- A British police helicopter pilot and two police observers reported they nearly collided with an unidentified flying object over Birmingham, England.

The pilot and the observers aboard the copter told the Airprox Board -- the body charged with recording such close calls and reporting them to military and air traffic control authorities -- that the aircraft had to swerve to avoid a collision with the object at an altitude of about 1,500 feet, The Daily Mail reported Friday.

The trio described the object as a small aircraft with continuous blue-green lights. They said the object came as close as 330 feet from the helicopter and the lights appeared to circle the chopper before flying away.

"As far as the pilot and the crew were concerned, nothing was picked up on Birmingham Airport radar and the object was probably a radio-controlled model aircraft. The helicopter was conducting a search at the time and was flying slowly at low-level," a West Midlands police spokesman said.

However, the British Model Flying Association said the object was flying at too high an altitude to be a miniature remote-controlled craft.

The Airprox Board report refers to the incident as "an apparent conflict with an unidentified aircraft displaying non-standard lights."