UAPs / Flares in Manitoba

[Eburacum]

Here is an interesting video from Manitoba. Almost certainly flares, but it would be nice to confirm that.
https://in.mashable.com/science/781...ed-after-spotting-mysterious-lights-in-canada

A couple in Canada have been left puzzled after spotting pulsating lights ‘as bright as the sun’ hovering above a river.
Justin Stevenson, 49, said he ‘felt like he was in a sci-fi movie’ after he and his partner Danielle, 32, spotted the strange phenomenon while driving alongside a road near the Winnipeg River in the Canadian province of Manitoba.
The sighting reportedly took place last month, and prompted the couple to stop their car to get a better look at the strange anomalies, which looked like two suns.
Justin can be heard wondering what the weird lights were, before questioning if it might be extra-terrestrial in nature.
On video he said: ‘I think we’re seeing some aliens, for real.’
But could it be a UFO?
The couple then see another set of bright objects appear in the sky, near the original pair and liken it to a fire.

At one point the two initial objects seem to move very rapidly rightwards, but I think this is because the photographer is walking rightwards quite quickly, and this makes objects in the foreground move leftwards.

By comparing frames before and after this movement, you can see that the foreground has changed, but the clouds in the sky have not changed.

Note as well that the flares have dropped downwards, suggesting that these are parachute flares.
Later in the video you can see a nearby plane, with white, red and green lights, and then another two flares appear somewhat higher up.

-----
I don't know how to confirm that a flare drop exercise was occurring on that day, especially since the exact date and location is not given. Sometime before Jun 28, 2024, on the Winnepeg River.

 

[MonkeeSage]

In the video the man filming says it looks like flares, and it appears he was right!

02:23

Woman: What are they?
Man: They look like flares.
Woman: Can they stay up that long?
Man: I don't even know.

Content from External Source

The article actually gives the date and approximate location.

On May 14, Justin Stevenson and his wife, Danielle Daniels-Stevenson, were driving through Fort Alexander when they spotted peculiar orbs emitting yellow lights.

Content from External Source

Fort Alexander is on river right next to Lake Winnipeg.


I found some previous news reporting about the 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron doing flare training exercises in the area in 2011, 2014 and 2016.

Article:

If you see unusual lights over Lake Winnipeg tonight, don’t bother reporting a UFO.

The Canadian air force’s 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron plans to conduct night-flare exercises over the lake from 10:30 p.m. until 1 a.m., 17 Wing Winnipeg warned in a statement.

Source: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2011/06/13/night-flares-over-lake-winnipeg-tonight

Article:

435 Transport and Rescue (T&R) Squadron will conduct night flare exercises over Lake Winnipeg near Gimli, Manitoba tonight between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m.

The training exercise is part of 435 Squadron’s ongoing training for search and rescue crews.

The exercise involves dropping illumination flares and practicing all aspects of night search and rescue operations. The training is taking place over the established Lake Winnipeg Range near Gimli.

Source: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/2014/09/04/rescue-squadron-training-over-lake-winnipeg-tonight

Article:

A CC-130 Hercules aircraft will be flying low on Wednesday in the Gimli area as part of a routine Canadian Armed Forces exercise.

435 Transport and Rescue (T&R) Squadron will conduct the exercise between 9 a.m. and noon as part of ongoing search and rescue training.

The Hercules will be conducting low-level aerial search patterns, while teams will deploy equipment bundles, smoke emitters and night flares.

Source: https://www.chrisd.ca/2017/06/20/435-transport-rescue-squadron-gimli-exercise/

Article:

A military search and rescue exercise will be carried out near Gimli later tonight.

435 Transport and Rescue Squadron will be conducting the routine exercise between 8 p.m. and midnight involving a CC-130 Hercules aircraft. It will include the execution of low-level aerial search patterns as well as the deployment of equipment bundles, smoke emitters and night flares.

Source: https://www.chrisd.ca/2016/09/15/435-squadron-search-rescue-exercise-gimli-manitoba/

This military history site gave Gimli as their base for training which is consistent with the above reporting.

Article:

Although no longer military establishment, the military did not completely abandoned Gimli. 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron based out of 17 Wing Winnipeg use the Gimli Airport when they conduct training exercises over Lake Winnipeg.

Source: https://militarybruce.com/abandoned-canadian-military-bases/abandoned-bases/manitoba/

I didn't find other news stories after that, but I figured maybe it was old news by that point and people were used to it so it wasn't reported on.

I kept digging and found this facebook post showing the squadron preparing for exercises on... May 14th, 2024!


Source: https://www.facebook.com/seaninmotion.ca/

I figured there would be a NOTAM for it and found the NOTAM region code for the area from the NAV Canada NOTAM Operating Procedures.

Sure enough there was a NOTAM for a Search and Rescue exercise with flares over the lake on May 14th, centered 11 nautical miles ENE of Gimli Airport.

Source: https://notams.aim.faa.gov/notamSearch/nsapp.html#/details



So it looks like the man filming the video was right about flares from the beginning. Unfortunate that he immediately jumped to aliens instead.

Stevenson, previously skeptical about extraterrestrial life, said the encounter convinced him of the possibility. “I was sceptical before I saw this but now this has given me the proof I need that there's something out there other than humans,” he told the New York Post.

Content from External Source

 

[Eburacum]

Thank you!
This demonstrates two things; first, that flares are much more visible than the plane that drops them, and last a long time;
and that the apparent rapid sideways movement of the flares was caused by nothing more complicated than the photographer walking along a path. Our old friend parallax again.