The incident took place over southern Arizona around 3:30 p.m. on Feb. 24 between the New Mexico border and the Sonoran Desert National Monument, which is about 40 miles from Phoenix.
The Drive reported that one witness, a commercial pilot flying a jet for American Airlines, said the object was above 40,000 feet and had a big reflection.
"I don't know what it was," the pilot told Albuquerque Air Route Traffic Control Center. "It wasn't an airplane but it was ... the path was going in the opposite direction."
Air traffic control told an aircraft on a similar flight path to let him know if anything passes over him in the next few miles.
A few minutes later, the pilot confirmed that something passed over his aircraft.
"Don't know what it was, but it was at least two, three thousand feet above us," he said. "It passed right over the top of us."
"Can you tell if it was in motion or just hovering?" traffic control asked.
"Negative, I don't know if it was a weather balloon or what not," the pilot said. "It had a big reflection, several thousand feet above us going the opposite direction."
After questions about whether it was a Google balloon, another voice responded and said it was a UFO.
Arizona had more than 4,500 reported UFO sightings from 2001 to 2015. It was also home to one of the most infamous UFO cases of all time, the Phoenix Lights.
Reader Comments