The Great Smoky Mountain Journal
Source:
Tuesday, January 01, 2019 02:42 PM
Two Pilots Claim They Saw UFO Fly Near Them While Traveling Over Arizona In February
The Federal Aviation Administration released the radio broadcast of the event, in which two pilots from separate flights can be heard asking air traffic control in Albuquerque Center if anybody was flying above them, The Phoenix Times reported.
The first pilot was flying a Learjet for Phoenix Air and reported that something flew over the aircraft around 3:30 p.m. local time on Feb. 24.
"Was anybody above us that passed us like 30 seconds ago?" the pilot asked the operators, audio revealed. The FAA replied with a “negative.”
Following the conversation, the Albuquerque Center warned a nearby American Airlines plane to watch for a rogue object. Moments after the warning, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 1095 radioed in that something flew over the plane.
"Yeah, something just passed over us," the pilot said. "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 pilots indicated they were not sure if the UFO was “hovering” or flying in a direction, but the American Airlines pilot reported the object “had a big reflection and doubted it was a Google balloon,” CBS News reported.
"Other than the brief conversation between two aircraft, the controller was unable to verify that any other aircraft was in the area," Lynn Lunsford of the FAA told The Phoenix New Times.
The strange object passed near the aircraft just 500 miles from Roswell, N.M., a city famous for an alleged UFO crash in 1947 and for inspiring a host of conspiracy theories.
The FAA told Fox News an air traffic controller was unable to verify that any other aircraft was in the area.
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"We have a close working relationship with a number of other agencies and safely handle military aircraft and civilian aircraft of all types in that area every day, including high-altitude weather balloons," the FAA told Fox News in a statement.
The odd encounters come just three months after reports from The New York Times and Politico claimed the Defense Department secretly set up a program 10 years ago to investigate UFOs. Former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid reportedly helped steer money under the program to a donor’s aerospace research company.
Fox News' Alex Pappas contributed to this report.