Arizona airliner overflight
- Date
- 24 Feb 2018
- Place
- Over the Arizona desert, in Albuquerque Center airspace (Learjet and American Airlines 1095, San Diego to Dallas), United States
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Contested
- Evidence strength
What was reported
At about 3:30 p.m. a Learjet pilot asked Albuquerque Center whether anything had just passed above him; the controller had no target, and minutes later the crew of American Airlines flight 1095, an A321, reported that something with 'a big reflection' passed two to three thousand feet above them going the other way. The FAA released the recordings and said controllers saw nothing on radar; it noted that high-altitude research balloons and military aircraft operate in that airspace. No official identification was made, and a high-altitude balloon, seen against the sky with no depth cue, is the explanation most often given.
What officials concluded
Tentative explanation
Possibly a high-altitude weather or research balloon (FAA)
Strongest ordinary reading
High-altitude balloon passing above the airliners (proposed)
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- Yes: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- No: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- Yes: Airline crew
- Yes: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- No: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- No: Silent
Outside sources
On the map
32.80° N, 109.80° W, plotted at the centre of the region named in the record
Show on the map