The luminous unknown aerial object that entered Hangzhou airspace on 7 July 2010 forced Xiaoshan International Airport to halt operations for fifty-six minutes, delaying or diverting eighteen flights and affecting more than two thousand passengers. Air traffic control shut the runway after a descending flight crew spotted the object at 20:40 local time and reported it was hovering near the approach path; normal service resumed at 21:41 when the object faded from view.
Evidence for the incident derives from cockpit testimony, air traffic logs, and a handful of civilian photographs captured before and during the shutdown. None of the airport's radars tracked the object, and many images that later flooded Chinese and international media were either unrelated or digitally altered, leaving investigators to piece together the event from eyewitness reports and secondary sources.
Personnel
Timeline
Evidence
Assessment
Publicly available evidence supports the conclusion that an unfamiliar aerial phenomenon disrupted scheduled traffic, yet no data verify an extraterrestrial craft. The balance of probabilities favors a classified aerospace test—most likely a DF-21 missile stage—whose exhaust plume reflected post-sunset light, or a high-altitude aircraft unseen on civilian radar.
Debunked photographs and a misattributed rocket video complicate the narrative, but their exposure by analysts such as Forden and by official statements erodes the dramatic claims. Until primary radar and sensor data are released, the Xiaoshan incident remains an instructive example of how limited information, spectacular imagery, and rapid media circulation can magnify an ambiguous event.