In March 2018, a month after the fact, the FAA released a radio broadcast of what CBS News called an “out-ofthis-world incident.” Actually, the UFO, seen by two separate civil aviation pilots flying over Arizona, has a very, very likely real-world explanation.
The object was first reported by the pilot of a Learjet operated by Phoenix Air, who contacted air traffic control to ask, “Was anybody, uh, above us that passed us like thirty seconds ago?” The object was verified by a second pilot, from American Airlines Flight 1095, after being queried by the controller: “Yeah, something just passed us. I don’t know what it was, but it was at least two, three thousand feet above us.” The controller could not verify that any other aircraft was present at that location. He joked to the Learjet pilot, “Maybe a UFO,” provoking a laugh. The American Airlines pilot said he could not identify the object but that it was traveling in the opposite direction and was extremely bright. He was asked if it might have been “a Google balloon” (one of a network of balloons about eleven miles above Earth intended to provide internet access to rural areas). He replied, “Doubtful.” Not long after the incident, Bob Tracey of Phoenix Air Group spoke with the Learjet captain who told him he had been flying at approximately 37,000 feet and that the unidentified object was several thousand feet above. “The glare was so intense,” said Tracey, “they couldn’t make it out.” The American Airlines 1095 pilot confirmed the effect, stating, “Couldn’t make it out whether it was a balloon or whatnot. But it was just beaming light, or could have had a big reflection.”
I contacted my friend and colleague Major James McGaha, USAF retired, a Committee for Skeptical Inquiry scientific and technical consultant. A former Special Operations pilot, as well as an astronomer (he is director of Arizona’s Grasslands Observatory), he has a unique knowl edge of the sky. Using several online sources, I researched the case, anticipating some of the information he would want.