IRVINE residents were left gobsmacked last Friday after spotting an unidentified flying object in the sky.

People in Girdle Toll and Bourtreehill could not believe what they were seeing as a mysterious aircraft with flashing lights zipped in and out of the sky.

One eye-witness told the Times: “I had just arrived home from work, and there were a load of my neighbours out in the street. When I got out my car I realised what they were looking up at.

"It just looked like a helicopter light at first, but it was changing colour gradually, and it started darting about the sky, and disappearing then reappearing.

“It looked to be over the cornfield area, over towards Lawthorn or Girdle Toll. It didn’t move like any plane or helicopter I’ve ever seen.” But, on this occasion, extra-terrestrial’s were not to blame. The person behind it was actually Irvine man George Muirhead.

The 26-year-old was out flying his remote control plane in the Perecton fields, about a mile from the streets, which is what caused the confusion.

Bemused residents came out of their houses and flooded social media sites to find out what was going on.

See more in this week's Irvine Times, out now.