The FAA Can’t Explain UFOs Reported By Pilots Over Arizona Desert
Two commercial airline pilots flying over the Sonoran Desert reported seeing a UFO flying several thousand feet above them last month. The Federal Aviation Administration released audio of their communication with air traffic controllers, though no further explanation was provided.
The story was first picked up by The Drive, a website that monitors aviation and air traffic throughout the U.S., and details a conversation between Albuquerque’s air traffic control, a Learjet 36 pilot, and an American Airlines commercial pilot flying an Airbus A321.
Near the border between Arizona and New Mexico, around 38,000 feet, the pilot of the private jet asked Albuquerque if he knew of something that just passed overhead.
“Was anybody above us that passed us like 30 seconds ago?” the Learjet pilot said.
“Negative,” the air traffic controller said.
“Ok, something did. It looked like a UFO,” the pilot and co-pilot said.
Following this exchange, the air traffic controller asks an American Airlines Flight 1095 pilot to let him know if he sees anything pass over him within the next 15 miles. The pilot responds sounding slightly confused.
But within a few seconds the commercial pilot confirms seeing something pass over him. The pilot said he couldn’t tell whether it was in motion or not, but that it gave off a big reflection.
“Yeah, something just passed over us. I don’t know what it was, but it was at least two-three thousand feet above us. Yeah, it passed right over the top of us,” the pilot said.
After some time passes the commercial pilot wonders whether it was a Google balloon, part of the company’s Project Loon – testing weather balloons to transmit WiFi in rural and remote areas.
His question is quickly met with a response from the private jet pilot, saying it was doubtful that it was a balloon and likely a UFO.
The FAA has responded to the incident, confirming the legitimacy of the recorded exchange, but offering no explanation. The administration’s response acknowledged the fact that it keeps a tight record of all military activity in the area and is also aware of all airborne weather balloons.
The Drive said the FAA was helpful in their response, but that air traffic control at Albuquerque was unaware of the incident at the time they contacted them. The author found it bizarre that such a scenario was not widely known or being investigated, considering the UFO didn’t have a transponder and wasn’t responding to attempted communication, despite flying in a highly trafficked area.
A few months ago, The Drive covered a similar story regarding a UFO following alongside a commercial airliner in northern California and Oregon that elicited a response from the military. Both the FAA and Air Force admitted that it scrambled F-15 fighter jets to intercept the unidentified craft, though they lost track of the target.
These instances of pilots encountering UFOs comes at an oddly coincidental time, after the announcement of the Pentagon’s black budget program to study the phenomenon. The amount of coverage from mainstream media publications has been significant, leading many to believe we may be on the precipice of some type of disclosure event.
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After Decades of Dismissal, NASA Finally Studying UFOs
On the heels of the first public UFO hearing on Capitol Hill in more than 50 years, NASA has just announced it will form its own independent team to study UFOs, or UAPs as the government now calls them.
Writing in a release, NASA says it will study, “[O]bservations of events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective”
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’S associate administrator for science added, “We have the tools and team who can help us improve our understanding of the unknown. That’s the very definition of what science is. That’s what we do.”
