The Chicago O'Hare UFO sighting occurred on November 7, 2006, around 4:15 p.m. when 12

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

employees and a few witnesses outside O'Hare International Airport reported a sudden

UFO sighting This is a partial list by date of sightings of alleged unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including reports of close encounters and alien abductions. Second millennium BCE Classical antiquity 8th century 16th–17th centuries 19th cent ...

. The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

refused to investigate the matter because this

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

was not seen on radar, instead calling it a "weather phenomenon".

The sighting

At approximately 16:15 CST on November 7, 2006, federal authorities at

Chicago O'Hare International Airport Chicago O'Hare International Airport , sometimes referred to as, Chicago O'Hare, or simply O'Hare, is the main international airport serving Chicago, Illinois, located on the city's Northwest Side, approximately northwest of the Loop busines ...

received a report that a group of twelve airport employees were witnessing a metallic, saucer-shaped craft hovering over Gate C-17. The object was first spotted by a ramp employee who was pushing back

United Airlines United Airlines, Inc. (commonly referred to as United), is a major American airline headquartered at the Willis Tower in Chicago, Illinois.

Flight 446, which was departing Chicago for

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

. The employee apprised Flight 446's crew of the object above their aircraft. The object was also witnessed by pilots, airline management and mechanics. No

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

lers saw the object, and it did not show up on radar. (Freedom of Information Act released transcript of Air Traffic Controller's phone reporting to FAA). Witnesses described the object as completely silent, in diameter and dark gray in color. Several independent witnesses outside of the airport also saw the object. One described a disc-shaped craft hovering over the airport, stating that it was "obviously not clouds." According to this witness, the object shot through the clouds at high velocity, leaving a clear blue hole in the cloud layer. The hole reportedly seemed to close itself shortly afterward. According to the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

s Jon Hilkevitch, "The disc was visible for approximately five minutes and was seen by close to a dozen United Airlines employees, ranging from pilots to supervisors, who heard chatter on the radio and raced out to view it."

Reaction from the Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines

Both United Airlines and the

(FAA) initially denied that they had any information on the O'Hare UFO sighting until the newspaper ''

'', which was investigating the report, filed a

Freedom of Information Act Freedom of Information Act may refer to the following legislations in different jurisdictions which mandate the national government to disclose certain data to the general public upon request: * Freedom of Information Act 1982, the Australian act * ...

(FOIA) request. The FAA then ordered an internal review of air-traffic communications tapes to comply with the ''Chicago Tribune'' FOIA request which subsequently uncovered a call by the United supervisor to an FAA manager in the airport tower concerning the UFO sighting. The FAA stance concludes that the sighting was caused by a "weather phenomenon" and that the agency would therefore not be investigating the incident. According to astronomer Mark Hammergren, weather conditions on the day of the sighting were right for a " hole-punch cloud", an unusual weather phenomenon. UFO investigators have argued that the FAA's refusal to look into the incident contradicts the agency's mandate to investigate possible security breaches at American airports such as in this case; an object witnessed by numerous airport employees and officially reported by at least one of them, hovering in plain sight, over one of the busiest airports in the world. Some witnesses interviewed by the ''Chicago Tribune'' were apparently "upset" that federal officials declined to further investigate the matter.

NARCAP report

The National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) published a 155-page report on the sighting and has called for a government inquiry and improved energy-sensing technologies: "Anytime an airborne object can hover for several minutes over a busy airport but not be registered on radar or seen visually from the control tower, constitutes a potential threat to flight safety."

Media coverage

The Chicago O'Hare airport UFO story was picked up by various major mainstream media groups such as

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and politi ...

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

, ''

'', and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

. On February 11, 2009,

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

aired an episode of the television show '' UFO Hunters'' with the title "Aliens at the Airport" in which they reviewed the incident. The incident is also featured in the television series '' Hangar 1: The UFO Files'' episode "Unfriendly Skies".

In popular culture

The film ''

'' refers to this incident, as does an episode of '' Boston Legal''.

References

External links

National Aviation Reporting Center – 155 page report – July 2007
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