An intriguing incident over Arizona last month saw two separate pilots in different aircraft report seeing what can only be called a UFO.
The odd event took place on February 24th and has begun making news thanks to remarkable recordings of the conversations between the pilots and air traffic controllers during the encounter.
The strangeness started with the pilot of a Lear jet asking if something had just passed over his aircraft "about thirty seconds ago."
Despite being told by the ATC that they hadn't seen anything on radar, the pilot replies that "something did" and a second voice jokingly says, "a UFO" to which the pilot laughs.
Things get truly tantalizing when the controller proceeds to contact a nearby American Airlines pilot to find out if they see anything similar.
When asked to report if something passes over him in the next 15 miles, the bewildered pilot questions the strange request and is provided a brief explanation for their request.
Shorty thereafter, the AA pilot returns to the radio a few seconds later and confirms the sighting in somewhat dramatic fashion.
"Yeah, something just passed over us," the pilot responds, struggling to figure out what exactly he had just seen, "I don't know what it was."
Further discussion ensues as the controller and the witness attempt to discern what the object may have been with the pilot noting that the anomaly was two-to-three thousand feet above his craft.
Wondering if the object were hovering rather than moving, the controller is told by the pilot that he was not sure if it had been a balloon, but did offer the interesting observation that "it was just really beaming light or had a big reflection."
Speculation then turns to the possibility that it was a Google balloon, but the pilot dismisses this out of hand and then, ironically, an unidentified third voice, much like with the Lear jet communication, declares, "UFO."
That appears to be where the encounter ends, as far as the public goes, with the FAA providing no further insight into the case beyond the air traffic control recordings.
UFO enthusiasts may wish to gird their loins as the primary suspect suggested for what the object could have been is an infamous weather balloon.
That said, since the pilot who saw the anomaly seemed skeptical of the balloon scenario during the encounter, one cannot discount some of the more fantastic possibilities.
What do you think flew over the two aircraft last month in Arizona? Let us know at the Coast to Coast Facebook page.
Source: The Drive