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On November 7, 2006, several United Airlinesairports and aircraft. He agreed to allow me to
employees reported seeing a UFO hovering aboverecord our phone conversation and use a few
Gate C17 at O’Hare International Airportquotes:
in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Based on eyewitness“People believe when something strange is
reports, the sighting occurred sometime betweenspotted over an airport, all kinds of alarms go off.
four and four thirty in the afternoon (centralThat’s not the case, “he began.
time). The witnesses may have included a ramp“There are federal, state and local
worker, an aircraft mechanic, one or more pilotsagencies that have jurisdiction over airports in the
and some passengers waiting to board planes.United States. They make sure those facilities are
The UFO was described as a dull grey disc-shapedsafe and operate efficiently. Contingency plans are
object which might have been twenty to thirtyin place to handle emergencies based on the big
feet in diameter. That is a classic description andpicture. That picture doesn’t include
size for most daylight disc sightings. According toanything out of the ordinary. A UFO hovering
the witnesses that saw it depart, the disc movedover the airport would be an example of
upward at an incredible speed leaving asomething not included in those plans.”
‘hole’ in the cloud cover which“Nothing flies without Federal Government
was at about 19,000 feet on that day.permission. Nothing happens at the Airport unless
To understand what happened at O’Harefederal, state and local governments, airlines,
on that day, I contacted a friend. To assure hisemployees and unions can agree on what should
anonymity, I’ll call him Bob. I have knownhappen, when and how. Nothing works at an
Bob since 1988. In the spring of that year thereAirport without the cooperation of the Airlines.
were a number of UFO sightings above and nearThey can’t get a single aircraft off the
both LaGuardia and JFK Airports in New Yorkground without the cooperation of their
City. I first became aware of these when NYCemployees. That’s the pecking order.
Fire Fighters contacted me. Working out of a FireIt’s not a process designed to
House near LaGuardia, they had a habit of sittingimmediately cope with unexpected
in lawn chairs on the roof when things were slowsituations.”
and the weather was nice.Evidence of the truth in Bob’s statements
The Fire Fighters began to notice strange objectsto me can easily be seen by the reactions to the
that seemed to come in from the west andeyewitnesses that called to report their UFO
travel through the LaGuardia airspace. Thesesightings at O‘Hare. Those reactions
objects were cigar-shaped and had a dull grayranged from laughter to a complete a disregard
color. This went on for several days. One of thefor the witnesses and the situation they were
Fire Fighters called the airport, but they blew himreporting. This one wasn’t in the playbook,
off and said nothing like that had been reported.so it was going to be ignored until it could be
Frustrated, they called me after seeing my UFOSignored.
Over Long Island cable TV show.The National UFO Reporting Center was the first
After mentioning the sightings during a guest spot(as far as I know) to report this situation and
on WABC Talk Radio, I received a call from twothey did so based on an eyewitness report filed
excellent sources. One was an Air Trafficwith that organization. The report appeared on
Controller and the other was Bob. I later met thetheir website about a week after the sighting.
Controller in person. After I was satisfied that heThat may seem like an unreasonable amount of
was an Air Traffic Controller working in the NYCtime for the release of such important
area, we talked. He told me that the objectsinformation, but I’m sure they just
hadn’t been tracked by him, but that callswanted to be certain this wasn’t some
came into his work area about the unidentifiedhoax or silly prank. And from a practical
objects on several occasions. These were passedinvestigative standpoint, it just takes time to
on to the FAA since no immediate threat toverify something like that. I’m sure almost
aircraft in the area could be discerned.everyone they called from the Government
Bob spoke with me on the phone a few timesAgencies to the Airlines had no interest in seeing
before we met for lunch in suburban New Jersey.this go public.
He was an experienced military and civilian pilot.Agencies like the FAA and the TSA still adhere to
More importantly, Bob worked as an Aviationthe time-proven practice of pleading ignorance,
Security Consultant. He made it clear that it woulddenial or just stalling when it comes to any
be impossible for him to say anything about whatinquiries. Even Freedom of Information requests
he did or didn’t learn about the UFOhave limited value. There isn’t a federal
phenomenon while in the Military. However, heemployee out there that doesn’t know
agreed to brief me on procedures and practiceswhatever they put down on paper may come
that the FAA and Airlines had in place for dealingback to haunt them. That’s why many
with UFO sightings. His descriptions were cautiousUFO Researchers depend on eyewitnesses and
and carefully worded.whistleblowers to get the most valuable and
“Nothing ever happens with knownreliable information about any sighting or
aircraft in the sky that the FAA doesn’tencounter.
know or find out about,” he began.Pilots, people that work at Airports and those
“If an experimental aircraft was scheduledwho live nearby tend to be the best UFO
to enter and pass through New York Citywitnesses. That’s because they are used
airspace, they would be told as far in advance asto seeing things fly around the sky all day and
regulations and procedures might allow. A lognight. When something really different comes
entry would be created.” Bob indicatedalong, they can spot it right away. That is a
that he would have access to that informationsimple and logical conclusion to draw and one being
and that no such entry existed for the dates inignored by the news media. I guess it’s
question.just easier for them to pretend that the
Bob explained that the best way to approach theO’Hare UFO Sighting never happened,
Fire House sightings was to eliminate what thethen to investigate the situation or try and explain
guys didn’t see before thinking aboutit.
what they did see. After working with me forMy own paranormal investigations have taught me
almost three weeks, he eliminated most everysomething that might explain their apathy. No
logical explanation including weather phenomenon.matter how credible the source may be, a piece
Bob had a knack for attention to detail and lovedof information is only as good as people’s
throwing charts, graphs, weather reports andability to believe it. After years of government
statistics at me to prove his point. Based on alldenial and belittling of credible UFO witnesses,
that and my own investigation, we concluded thatmany reporters think that there just isn’t
the objects were unidentified and probably underany proof that we’re being visited by
some sort of intelligent control.beings from other worlds. They probably lack the
I speak with Bob on the phone a few times aconfidence in their own abilities to try and
year. When I decided to take a look at theconvince the public otherwise. Even if a UFO
O‘Hare sighting, I gave him a call. Althoughlanded on their front lawn, an Alien came out and
he has no personal knowledge about this matterasked for directions to O’Hare, I doubt
beyond what has been reported online, Bob ismost news people would believe their own eyes.
always more than helpful when it comes to