UFOs Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record by Leslie Kean Page A

chosen to remain anonymous, due to fears for job security. One United employee told me he could otherwise be perceived as “betraying” his company. Witnesses do not want to be “caught talking to the media since the airline had officially claimed that nothing happened,” he wrote in an e-mail. These witnesses to something that’s not supposed to exist—something laughed at by their colleagues—were left alone with their unsettling observations. “I realize this is a controversial position, but with my extensive knowledge of modern aviation technologies, I know this UFO probably wasn’t created on this planet,” one told me a few months afterward.
    The FAA and United Airlines at first denied having any information about the incident, but both had to acknowledge the sighting when a tape of a United supervisor’s call to the air traffic control tower was released by the FAA.
    I have listened to those tapes.
    “Hey, did you see a flying disc out by C17?” asked the supervisor, giving her name as Sue. Laughter is audible from tower operator Dave and a second person nearby. “That’s what a pilot in the ramp area at C17 told us,” she continues. “They saw some flying disc above them. But we can’t see above us.” The laughter continues nervously, and Dave replies, “Hey, you guys been celebrating the holidays or anything, or what? You’re celebrating Christmas today? I haven’t seen anything, Sue, and if I did I wouldn’t admit to it. No, I have not seen any flying disc at gate C17.”
    About fifteen minutes later, Sue calls back again, this time reaching operator Dwight. The conversation is as follows:
Sue: “This is Sue from United.” (laughter)
Tower: “Yes.” (serious tone)
(12 second pause)
S: “There was a disc out there flying around.”
T: “There was a what?”
S: “A disc.”
T: “A disc?”
S: “Yeah.”
T: “Can you hang on one second?”
S: “Sure.”
(pause, 33 seconds)
T: “Okay, I’m sorry, what can I do for you?”
S: “I’m sorry, there was, I told Dave, there was a disc flying outside above Charley 17 and he thought I was pretty much high. But, um, I’m not high and I’m not drinking.”
T: “Yeah.”
S: “So, someone got a picture of it. So if you guys see it out there—”
T: “A disc, like a Frisbee?”
S: “Like a UFO type thing.”
T: “Yeah, okay.”
S: “He got a picture of it.” (laughs)
T: “How, how, how high above Charley 17?”
S: “Well, it was above our tower. So …”
T: “Yeah.”
S: “So, if you happen to see anything …” (she continues to laugh)
T: “You know, I’ll keep a peeled eye for that.”
S: “Okay.”
    Unfortunately, the photograph Sue referenced has never been located. Also, due to the way the towers were constructed, the operators were not able to see the UFO; its location in the sky was not within their visual field through the glass window because of the roof overhang, so it hovered in what amounted to the tower’s blind spot. Planes full of passengers were landing and taking off while the “UFO type thing” sat poised in the sky overhead, and no one knew what this thing was, why it was there, or what it might do next. This taped exchange, which includes giggling, Sue’s need to proclaim she wasn’t “high,” and Dave’s admission that he wouldn’t admit it even if he had seen the disc, is a glaring commentary on the UFO taboo that infects aviation personnel even in the midst of an ongoing, possibly dangerous incident being reported by trained observers of aircraft.
    Dave might have reacted differently if the flying disc had been picked up on radar, but it wasn’t. Perhaps the object had some kind of stealth capability, but at the same time we know that airport radars are not configured to register stationary objects such as this, or, at the other extreme, extraordinarily high-speed motion, because such behavior is outside the norm. The O’Hare incident is not the only example of this. Unidentified objects are