The first footage of a mystery UFO that has baffled the government for more than two years has finally been released to the public.

The clip was recorded on November 11, 2014, by a pilot on board a Chilean Navy helicopter.

He was accompanied by a Navy technician, who also witnessed the strange event as he was testing an infra red camera.

Details from the flight suggest the pilot had many years of flying experience. The aircraft was flying at approximately 4,500 feet and visibility at the time of the sighting was good.

The strange object was observed by both men with the naked eye at around 1.52pm.

After zooming in with the infra red camera, the pilot then reported the unknown object to air traffic controllers who confirmed that no other plane had been authorised to fly in the area.

It also appeared to be undetectable on the helicopter’s on board radar.

In the clip, the object appears to be quite flat, and elongated.

The pilot stated that the UFO featured: “two thermal spotlights like discharges that did not coincide with the axel of motion.”

The technician observed the object as: “White with a semi-oval shape on the horizontal axis.”

Since then, the video has been investigated by the CEFAA – the Chilean government agency which examines UFOs or UAPs (unidentified aerial phenomena) – but they were unable to draw any definite conclustions.

General Ricardo Bermúdez, Director of CEFAA during the investigation, spoke to the Huffington Post, saying: “We do not know what it was, but we do know what it was not.”

One theory proposed was that the strange object was a ‘medium-haul aircraft’ that was coming in for a landing at Santiago airport.

The trail behind the plane is explained as being a result of the dumping of cabin waste water.

But this theory has been debunked by Chilean authorities for several reasons.

If the object was a plane, it would have been cleared for landing at the airport and would have responded to radio communications.

In addition, in Chile, aircraft are not permitted to eject waste material without first seeking permission from the DGAC (Dirección General de Aeronáutica Civil).

A meteorologist report also says that there were no weather balloons in the sky at the time – and that they don’t really fit the shape of the UFO seen in the clip.

An astrophysicist even proposed that the object could simply be space debris – but there are no records of any such objects re-entering the earth’s atmosphere at that time.

General Bermúdez told the Huffington Post: “This has been one of the most important cases in my career as director of CEFAA because our Committee was at its best

“The CEFAA is well regarded partly because there is full participation from the scientists of the academic world, the armed forces through their representatives, and the aeronautic personnel from the DGAC, including its Director.

“I am extremely pleased as well with the conclusion reached which is logical and unpretentious.”

Bermúdez added: “The great majority of committee members agreed to call the subject in question a UAP (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) due to the number of highly researched reasons that it was unanimously agreed could not explain it.”