Artist's rendering of possible UFO. Artwork courtesy of www.blogstar.org

Eyewitness reports from United Airlines employees and pilots about a gray, metallic, disc-shaped craft hovering over Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport have resulted in widespread news coverage within the mainstream U.S. media and international news outlets.

In a Chicago Tribune column published Jan. 1, Jon Hilkevitch reported on the Nov. 7, 2006, incident.

Hilkevitch wrote that the object was first seen by a United ramp worker at about 4:30 p.m., while directing a United plane at Gate C17. Several other United employees also reportedly witnessed the UFO.

When the Associated Press picked up the story this week, major media outlets such as the New York Times, CNN, MSNBC, ABC News and National Public Radio carried reports on the encounter. Even the political Web site TruthDig.com carried a report of the sighting.

The incident has also triggered press reports in Canada, Australia, UK, Germany and elsewhere.

Editor & Publisher, the journal and Web site that covers the press, reported on the news media coverage of the O’Hare incident.

WELL-DEFINED METALLIC DISC

A United mechanic in the cockpit of a Boeing 777 spotted the disc above Gate C17, Hilkevitch reported. Eyewitnesses claimed the metallic-looking disc was “well defined” in the sky.

No lights were reported and the size of the object was estimated to be 6 feet to 24 feet in diameter.

Witnesses stated the object was in a stationary position and was silent, according to Hilkevitch. It hovered just below the cloud deck which was estimated to be 1,900 feet that day.

"… I know that what I saw and what a lot of other people saw stood out very clearly, and it definitely was not an [Earth] aircraft," said a mechanic who witnessed the object.

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