On that date, United Airlines and Federal authorities were notified that approximately a dozen witnesses were observing a small round, metallic appearing, disc-shaped object, hovering above Gate C 17. The object was first spotted by an employee on the Gate ramp, pushing back Flight 446, which was departing Chicago for Charlotte, North Carolina. The employee reported to his supervisors that the object was almost directly over his location at Gate C 17, below the cloud cover at about 1,300 feet and appeared to be round and spinning. Other United Airlines employees, (as well as pilots) witnessed the object, which was apparently visible for approximately two minutes, before suddenly accelerating straight up at a very high speed, shooting through the overcast sky at about 1,900 feet at the time. It appeared to leave a hole in the cloud as it sped upward.

So what we have in this sighting is what was reported to be a solid object hovering about 1,300 feet above the second busiest airport in the country, witnessed by respectable ground crew employees and pilots, and a sudden erratic movement of the object as it ascended straight up at a high speed leaving a hole in the cloud and reported to authorities. As I would expect the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration), said it must have been a weird weather phenomenon. (At least it wasn't a weather balloon with crash test dummies this time according to the FAA). Initially United Airlines denied any knowledge of the event as reported to them by their own employees, later admitting they had interviewed the witnesses and requested reports, but had no authority to investigate the incident themselves.

It's now been three months since the sighting occurred and was reported, and we still have not been given an explanation by anyone in our government. That is not surprising to me, however my concern lies much deeper than the initial "blow-off remarks" by the FAA that it was a weather phenomenon. The United States is under a terrorist threat and daily the news media reminds us of the status of those threats, and we have had a sighting of "something" hovering over an airline gate at the second busiest airport in the country and no one in authority in the government is willing to come forward and explain what the employees of United Airlines actually witnessed. Luckily for us, the incident is still raising questions as it should, and Peter Davenport of the National UFO Reporting Center www.nuforc.org has been in the forefront to keep the investigation open, reporting information as it becomes available, as are several other Internet websites and discussion groups. I'm not saying that what was seen was some terrorist plot, but I am saying if in fact we have to live under that threat as we do daily, someone in the United States government owes an explanation to the general public as to what it was. It would be ridiculous to believe that such an event would not show up in the Intelligence Agencies daily reports, if nothing more than as a concern about National Security.