O'Hare gate C17 sighting
- Date
- 7 Nov 2006
- Place
- Over Gate C17, O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, United States
- Record
- Curated case
- Assessment
- Contested
- Evidence strength
What was reported
At about 4:15 p.m. a United ramp worker pushing back a flight saw a dark grey disc hovering silently below the cloud deck over Gate C17, and about a dozen United employees, including pilots and mechanics, came out to watch it for several minutes; some witnesses outside the airport said it shot up and left a clear hole in the clouds. Controllers saw nothing and nothing appeared on radar. The story surfaced through a Chicago Tribune Freedom of Information request; the FAA called it a weather phenomenon and did not investigate. Witness accounts disagree on shape, height and number, and an astronomer noted conditions were right for a hole-punch cloud.
What officials concluded
Tentative explanation
FAA: a weather phenomenon; not investigated
Strongest ordinary reading
A hole-punch (fallstreak) cloud with a misperceived object below it; not established
Evidence profile
- Yes: Visual
- No: Infrared
- No: Radar
- No: Video
- No: Photo
- No: Film
- No: Audio
- No: Night vision
- No: Other sensor
- Yes: Civilian
- No: Military aircrew
- No: Military ground
- Yes: Airline crew
- No: Sensor operator
- No: Law enforcement
- No: Scientist
- No: Astronaut
- No: Intelligence official
- No: Other
- No: Light only
- No: Orb or sphere
- Yes: Disc
- No: Triangle
- No: Cylinder
- No: Cube
- No: Other shape
- No: Physiological
- No: Physical trace
- No: Electromagnetic
- No: Sound
- Yes: Silent
Outside sources
- Wikipedia: 2006 O'Hare UFO sightingen.wikipedia.org
On the map
41.98° N, 87.90° W, plotted at the site
Show on the map