UFO at O'Hare makes Mainstream News - 2 months later

January 1, 2007

It sounds like a tired joke--but a group of airline employees insist they are in earnest, and they are upset that neither their bosses nor the government will take them seriously.

A flying saucerlike object hovered low over O'Hare International Airport for several minutes before bolting through thick clouds with such intense energy that it left an eerie hole in overcast skies, said some United Airlines employees who observed the phenomenon.

Was it an alien spaceship? A weather balloon lost in the airspace over the world's second-busiest airport? A top-secret military craft? Or simply a reflection from lights that played a trick on the eyes?

Officials at United professed no knowledge of the Nov. 7 event--which was reported to the airline by as many as a dozen of its own workers--when the Tribune started asking questions recently. But the Federal Aviation Administration said its air traffic control tower at O'Hare did receive a call from a United supervisor asking if controllers had spotted a mysterious elliptical-shaped craft sitting motionless over Concourse C of the United terminal.

No controllers saw the object, and a preliminary check of radar found nothing out of the ordinary, FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory said.

The FAA is not conducting a further investigation, Cory said. The theory is the sighting was caused by a "weather phenomenon," she said.

The UFO report has sparked some chuckles among controllers in O'Hare tower.

"To fly 7 million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable," said O'Hare controller and union official Craig Burzych.

Some of the witnesses, interviewed by the Tribune, said they are upset that neither the government nor the airline is probing the incident.

Whatever the object was, it could have interfered with O'Hare's radar and other equipment, and even created a collision risk, they said.

The Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (the term that extraterrestrial-watchers nowadays prefer over Unidentified Flying Object) was first seen by a United ramp worker who was directing back a United plane at Gate C17, according to an account the worker provided to the National UFO Reporting Center.

The sighting occurred during daylight, about 4:30 p.m., just before sunset.

All the witnesses said the object was dark gray and well defined in the overcast skies. They said the craft, estimated by different accounts to be 6 feet to 24 feet in diameter, did not display any lights.

Some said it looked like a rotating Frisbee, while others said it did not appear to be spinning. All agreed the object made no noise and it was at a fixed position in the sky, just below the 1,900-foot cloud deck, until shooting off into the clouds.

Witnesses shaken by sighting

"I tend to be scientific by nature, and I don't understand why aliens would hover over a busy airport," said a United mechanic who was in the cockpit of a Boeing 777 that he was taxiing to a maintenance hangar when he observed the metallic-looking object above Gate C17.

"But I know that what I saw and what a lot of other people saw stood out very clearly, and it definitely was not an [Earth] aircraft," the mechanic said.

One United employee appeared emotionally shaken by the sighting and "experienced some religious issues" over it, one co-worker said.

A United manager said he ran outside his office in Concourse B after hearing the report about the sighting on an internal airline radio frequency.

"I stood outside in the gate area not knowing what to think, just trying to figure out what it was," he said. "I knew no one would make a false call like that. But if somebody was bouncing a weather balloon or something else over O'Hare, we had to stop it because it was in very close proximity to our flight operations."

Some joke, others research

The databases of various UFO-watching groups are full of accounts filed by pilots about sightings of unknown aircraft and anomalies that affected navigational equipment onboard planes.

Whether any of the UFO incidents are real or merely the result of individual perceptions, some experts say the events pose a potential safety risk to pilots and their passengers.

"There have been documented cases where safety appears to have been implicated, and more and more we are coming to the point of view that we are dealing with an intelligent phenomenon," said Richard Haines, science director at the National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena, a private agency.

"We must be proactive before an aircraft goes down," said Haines, a former chief of the Space Human Factors Office at NASA's Ames Research Center.

Haines is investigating the O'Hare incident. He said he has determined that no weather balloons were launched in the vicinity of O'Hare on Nov. 7.

"It's absurd that the military would be conducting aerial test flights" near the airport, Haines said.

All the witnesses to the O'Hare event, who included at least several pilots, said they are certain based on the disc's appearance and flight characteristics that it was not an airplane, helicopter, weather balloon or any other craft known to man.

United denies UFO report

They're not sure what was hanging out for several minutes in the restricted airspace, but they are upset that no one in power has taken the matter seriously.

A United spokeswoman said there is no record of the UFO report. She said United officials do not recall discussion of any such incident.

"There's nothing in the duty manager log, which is used to report unusual incidents," said United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy. "I checked around. There's no record of anything."

The pilots of the United plane being directed back from Gate C17 also were notified by United personnel of the sighting, and one of the pilots reportedly opened a windscreen in the cockpit to get a better view of the object estimated to be hovering 1,500 feet above the ground.

The object was seen to suddenly accelerate straight up through the solid overcast skies, which the FAA reported had 1,900-foot cloud ceilings at the time.

"It was like somebody punched a hole in the sky," said one United employee.

Witnesses said they had a hard time visually tracking the object as it streaked through the dense clouds.

It left behind an open hole of clear air in the cloud layer, the witnesses said, adding that the hole disappeared within a few minutes.

The United employees interviewed by the Tribune spoke on condition of anonymity.

Some said they were interviewed by United officials and instructed to write reports and draw pictures of what they observed, and that they were advised by United officials to refrain from speaking about what they saw.

Federal agency backtracks

Like United, the FAA originally told the Tribune that it had no information on the alleged UFO sighting. But the federal agency quickly reversed its position after the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

An internal FAA review of air-traffic communications tapes, a step toward complying with the Tribune request, turned up the call by the United supervisor to an FAA manager in the airport tower, Cory said.

Cory said the weather might have factored into what the witnesses thought they saw.

"Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon," she said. "That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low [cloud] ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things. That's our take on it."

Source: www.chicagotribune.com/classified/automotive/columnists/chi-0701010141jan01,1,7803436.column?coll=chi-newslocal-hed

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That is an interesting about face.

I normally don't repost entire articles, but I thought I would here since it's a Chicago story and before it's purged.

Sounds like a typical UFO sighting. With digital cameras so cheap now and on practically every cell phone, no excuse to have not taken a pic.

Military or Alien...Hmmmmm

More than 3,000 reports of unidentified flying objects were sent to the National UFO Reporting Center over the past year - but not one has generated as much buzz as November's sighting at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Was it a metallic-looking, saucer-shaped object rising through the clouds, or nothing more than a meteorological oddity? It's hard to figure out whether the truth is really out there, but one thing is for sure: Clouds can do some positively alien-looking things.

Peter Davenport, the UFO center's director, says the buzz over the O'Hare sighting is fully justified.

"In my opinion, because I know the quality of the witnesses, and because I know the nature of the documents that were generated, it is one of the most dramatic cases of the year 2006 that this center has handled," Davenport told me today from the center's headquarters in Washington state.

On the other side, NBC News space analyst James Oberg - a longtime UFO skeptic - says the evidence that's come to light so far isn't all that compelling.

"It's just sad that we keep getting these reports which are of zero evidential value," he told me. "It's sad because there's a lot of strange stuff in the air that we do need to know."

Davenport's center put out the first reports on the O'Hare sighting weeks ago, but the report really picked up traction over the past weekend, when The Associated Press picked up a Chicago Tribune story about the case.

When I suggested that the O'Hare incident might have been a vortex created by an airplane rising through the clouds, Davenport shot me right down.

"You can conjecture all day long on that point if you wish to do so, but it's futile in this case," he said. "First of all, airplanes don't fly over [terminal] gates, they fly over runways. So your surmise, I think, is not appropriate in this case. ... This object was seen by many people to accelerate so fast and go straight up in the clouds that their eyes were unable to follow it."



More here: cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/02/25212.aspx

Airline employees interviewed by the Chicago Tribune newspaper said they saw a flying saucer-like object hover over the city’s O’Hare International Airport in early November.

Several United Airlines employees saw a dark grey saucer-like craft with no lights hovering for several minutes over the busy airport just before sundown, around 4:30pm on November
7, the Tribune reported Monday.

a hole in the sky," a United employee told the newspaper. The newspaper interviewed several United employees, including mechanics and pilots, all of whom spoke anonymously. They all said they were certain the object was not a man-made craft.

"I tend to be scientific by nature, and I don’t understand why aliens would hover over a busy airport," an unnamed United mechanic who saw the phenomenon told the newspaper.
"But I know that what I saw and what a lot of other people saw stood out very clearly, and it definitely was not an (Earth) aircraft," the witness said.At least one United employee "experienced some religious issues" over the sighting, a co-worker told the newspaper.

United told the Tribune it had no information about the phenomenon. The Federal Aviation Administration told the newspaper that no controllers saw the object and a preliminary check of radar found nothing unusual. The sighting was likely caused by a "weather phenomenon," FAA spokesman Elizabeth Isham Cory told the newspaper. "When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things. That’s our take on it," she said.

Source: www.7days.ae/2007/01/03/ufo-over-chicago.html

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NPR Podcast interview...

All Things Considered, January 1, 2007 · In November, a gray, metallic, saucer-like object was spotted hovering above Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. As many as 12 United Airlines employees spotted the object and filed reports with United.

Officials at the airline say they have no knowledge of the incident, and the Federal Aviation Administration is not investigating.

Melissa Block speaks with Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevtich, who reported on the incident.

Click here to listen: www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6707250

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This Chicago Astronomer topic, is by far in the short amount of time since posting, has been the most popular and visited subject in our vast collection of interesting threads.

Approaching 2,500 hits and counting!...

All Hail the Alien Overlords...

At the Randi site and other skeptic forums, the prevalent sentiment is of mockery, sarcasm and know-at-all debunking attitude. With certain exceptions of a minority of open minded members there who desire to discuss the possibility and ramifications..they find very few to relate with. I can imagine the same laughter from those who thought man could not smash the sound barrier, fly heavier than air machines, or travel faster than 25 MPH because the speed would "drive men mad". Closed minds keep things as is, and forgo progress. All claims must be investigated and tested to be proven - good sound scientific practice, but mockery helps no one.

The image of a alleged UFO was not attributed to the O'Hare sighting, but as an example of what it may have appeared as.

I'm not saying that the O'Hare UFO is bona fide, but people saw something unusual...and therefore it's unidentified - clear enough. No one stated it was from Zeti-Reticuli or that the greys were waving at them thru the portholes. But odd that these same individuals who scoff at any notion of a UFO, hold a different standard when it comes to a supernatural being to worship. Quite a hypocritical stance, but expected.

I desire to learn more about this incident without laughing about it, insulting the witnesses or dismissing it as a weather inversion that simple minds can't comprehend.

Here is a nice link that shows the O'Hare layout and some commentary from a witness:

forums.uforesearcher.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000177

"It reminds me when Galileo was trying to get people to look at sunspots. They would say the sun is a symbol of God; God is perfect; therefore the sun is perfect; therefore spots cannot exist: therefore there is no point in looking." -- Dr. J. Allen Hynek

Hi,

With due respect for all healthy skepticism, please allow me to invite you to make a dsicovery of your own that will, no doubt, tweak many minds, one way or the other.

Please visit my site at www.theyfly.com where I have a tremendous amount of free information on what I refer to as either the biggest, most impenetrable hoax, or the most important story in all of human history, the Billy Meier UFO contacts from Switzerland.

Now, I full well expect certain types of comments but I first ask that a very thorough read of Evidence, Articles, Prophecies, Newsletters, etc. occur. I can clearly and honestly say that EVERY challenge by the top professional skeptics has been soundly defeated. Not one person has been able to - as many claimed - duplicate even one of Meier's UFO photos, films, video sound recordings, etc. And yes, we have copyrighted, published books, documents and DVDs with the prophetic information in them - BEFORE the specifc foretold events occurred.

So, if we can dispense with unsubstantiated comments, do know that I am willing to answer any legitimate challenges, questions, etc.

Best,

Michael Horn
Authorized American Media Representative
The Billy Meier Contacts
www.theyfly.com

Hi Centaur,

Thanks for the welcome. Actually, I may not disagree all that much since I do not subscribe to the notion that all (even most) unidentified flying objects are either supernatural or extraterrestrial. There's a couple of articles at my site that addresses this in greater detail:

www.theyfly.com/newsflash/newsflash.htm#US
www.figu.org/de/figu/bulletin/s25/the_newest.htm

I have a feeling though that you've not yet had a chance to really review the abundant evidence and information at my site. I've researched this case for 28 years and have concluded that it's either the biggest, most impenetrable hoax (pulled off by a one-armed Swiss man living in the middle of nowhere with almost no resources)...or the most important story in all of human history.

I think you know which side I come down on but you don't as yet know why. I genuinely invite you to probe deeply here and to prepare yourself for some paradigm shattering information. You'll also find information on my site regarding Meier's advance publication of information pertaining to jupiter, Saturn, Venus and the two planets beyond Pluto that defies any possiblity of hoaxing.

Let me leave you with that for now and invite you to respond at your convenience. Since I am quite busy producing a film, preparing a new lecture and dong a bunch of other related work, if you don't hear from me in a timely manner please feel free to rattle my cage at my personal email address, michael@theyfly.com.

And thanks again for the courteous welcome. Considering my line of work here, it's quite refreshing.

Best,

MH

Here is a nice opinion piece from the Chicago Tribune journalist, Jon Hilkevitch, who gave the O'Hare UFO story mainstream attention...


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It's rare for a newspaper story to emerge from the vast and dark unknown and hit at a primal level, tapping into the fact that many of us feel so alone and confused about why we exist, and giving us a chance to hope, to dream.

No, ET had not phoned home. But, said Peter Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center, this was "an excellent, stunning case involving a genuine UFO from some other part of our galaxy or our universe." Covering UFOs seemed to be stretching the definition of my job, transportation reporting. I looked at the clock on the newsroom wall and decided to give Mr. Davenport two minutes. But he was onto something.

The UFO story, published Monday, became the most-read piece to appear on chicagotribune.com. It was the top story on the Tribune Web site for four straight days, garnering more than 1 million page views from people around the world.

The reaction is proof that we live in a curious world. Maybe a curious universe too.

Full story here: www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0701070086jan07,1,4459707.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed

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Going against the grain of conventional mainstream scientific ideology is often dangerous and at times, self defeating. As many normally intelligent individuals smugly denounce any notion that flexes comfortable standards and myopically adhere to the "good-ole-boys club steadfastly and without waver. I applaud Chicago Tribune journalist, Jon Hilkevitch who went out on a limb to report on this UFO incident...and for the Trib itself to run it.

UFO fact or simple explanation, it is still news and the Chicago tribune did it's duty and reported it. Too many keep silent for fear of ridicule and ostrification, but The Chicago Astronomer fears none of it - and entertains all ideas, theories and dialog. Too many sightings and UFO incidents too ignore and broadly paint as figments of the imagination, weather phenomenon or mass hysteria.

And as stated by Hilkevitch,

It applies here as well on the Chicago Astronomer, as this story has become the most visited post in the short time I posted it. We are all truly connected.



Was it an alien space craft, dimensional jump or U.S. military project...I don't know - but as astronomers we see things in a logical manner and the desire to explore is the whole reason we stay out in the bitter cold, early mornings, late at night and stifling heat with our telescopes. Many would see us daft, but we need to know and see it for ourselves. I keep an open mind about the whole UFO field.

Let all of us remember that when others see things things we have not, or have we forgotten what Galileo went through.

...Doomed to repeat

An open mind should not be confused with credulity.
Craig F. Bohren, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Atmospheric Physics, Penn State Department of Meteorology


The above statement is from a personal communication to me. I was directed to Dr. Bohren by Tom Skilling. The following is another excerpt from the professor's e-mail.


...holes in clouds, even spectacular ones, are not mysterious. And by holes in clouds I do not mean just breaks in clouds on partly cloud days.

Fallstreak holes really get your attention because the holes can appearto have been cut out with a cookie cutter. Every so often Weatherwise magazine (and Weather, the British equivalent) will publish a spectacular photograph of a fallstreak hole.

Use Google to search on fallstreak holes. The first entry I got was a collection of great photos, assembled by Australians, of fallstreak holes all over the world. Now I am not saying that what was observed is a fallstreak hole, only that strange holes in clouds are not the work of extraterrials.

The folks who use the term Unidentified Flying Object are, in a sense, already biased. How the hell do they know that the "object" (which in fact may be an image) is in fact "flying" Suppose that a searchlight illuminates the base of clouds, the result being a moving white spot. Is this a flying object? I don't think so. It is a moving patch of illuminated cloud brighter than adjacent cloud. But it is neither an object nor is it flying. I'll give you another example. I have seen many subsuns from airplanes. They are elliptical bright spots. As the plane moves the subsun moves with it. Is the subsun flying? Is it an object? Neither. It is a slightly distorted image of the sun reflected by falling ice crystals that are oriented. And yet the subsun is probably the most common "unidentified flying object." My colleague Alistair Fraser told me that he once saw a book about flying saucers in a shop window. On the cover of was a photo of one of these saucers. Alistair said that it was a beautiful photo of a subsun.

It is easy to see why subsuns are mistaken for flying saucers. They are bright, elliptical, and no matter how fast the plane flies the "saucer" keeps up. Wow! The mystery vanishes when you realize that what you are seeing is fundamentally no different from what you would see if you were walking along the edge of a fairly still lake with the sun low in the sky. You would see the reflected image of the sun, and as you moved the image would move. Run fast and the image will keep up with you. This is exactly what happens in the atmosphere. The mirrors are just thousands of tiny ice crystals.

A photo from a camera cell phone has been released of the UFO sighting over O'Hare airport in November 2006.

Source: www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread236709/pg27#pid2898150

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It doesn't look too convincing, and may be a fake, but digital experts state that if it is fake - it was done at the highest level.