Image: realufo.org
The Story
The FAA recovered a tower call and found no visual or radar confirmation, then closed the matter with a weather explanation.
The official trail is short: a supervisor’s call was recovered, controllers saw nothing, radar showed no unusual contact, and the FAA offered a weather-and-cloud explanation. The agency did not move beyond that preliminary account into a formal investigation.
- What was gatheredThe FAA had a recorded report from a United supervisor and a preliminary check of tower observations and radar.
- What was not gatheredThe available sources do not show a dedicated FAA field investigation, confirmed sensor track, physical evidence, or a formal reconstruction.
- The FAA found the United supervisor’s call after a Freedom of Information Act request, while controllers reported no visual sighting and radar showed nothing unusual.
- The FAA’s stated explanation was a weather phenomenon involving a low cloud ceiling and airport lights.
- The FAA did not investigate further after offering that explanation.
Deeper Insight
The FAA called O’Hare’s disc weather and stopped. That choice left a silent object over public airspace outside official knowledge.
At Gate C17, a Chicago O’Hare airport gate, workers and pilots described a silent 6-to-24-foot disc hovering beneath the clouds. The FAA blamed weather and airport lights, then stopped investigating. NARCAP, an independent aviation anomaly group, rejected the hole-punch cloud explanation. Tower audio, radar records, and United’s duty log could reveal what crossed the airport.
- What it could changeA full record could show a major airport missed an object and change how aviation tracks strange events.
- How it touches todayPeople still ask because a rejected explanation is not the same as an investigated one.
- Our futureUnexamined gaps could become the only record we have when something strange crosses public airspace.
- Witness accounts collected for the case described a dark, silent disc estimated at roughly 6 to 24 feet, hovering beneath the cloud deck before rising through it.
- NARCAP’s 2007 analysis argued that a solid object had hovered over the concourse and rejected a hole-punch cloud explanation.
- NARCAP’s conclusions were an independent private-group analysis, not an official FAA finding.
Sources · 6
- 1 Forum, video, personal
- 1 Reference & archives
- 4 Other / unclassified
What do these mean?
- Forum, video, personal. Forums, social posts, video, blogs and personal accounts.
- Reference & archives. Encyclopedias and web archives: a place to look something up or a stored copy, not an original source.
- Other / unclassified. A site we have not classified yet. This says nothing good or bad about it.
Featured · Analysis · reddit.com
20 years ago today, United workers watched a disc hover over Gate C17 at O’Hare. Here’s what the FOIA trail shows.
Forum or personal account
On 7 November 2006, around 4:30 PM, a United ramp worker pushing a plane back from Gate C17 looked up and saw a dark gray, disc-shaped object hovering silently beneath the \~1,900 ft overcast. Within minutes, mechanics taxiing a 777, supervisors, and the pilots of the 737 near C17 were watching too. Size estimates based on witness accounts ranged from 6 to 24 ft, with no lights and no sound. After
Read sourceAnalysis · realufo.org
O'Hare 2006: the tower tapes, the tower log and a disc no radar saw · RealUFO
Other
O'Hare 2006: the tower tapes, the tower log and a disc no radar saw · RealUFO # O'Hare 2006: the tower tapes, the tower log and a disc no radar saw On the afternoon of 7 November 2006, at about 4:30 p.m., United Airlines employees reported a dark, disc-shaped object hovering low over Gate C17 at Chi
Read sourceAnalysis · wherearethey.info
Richard F. Haines: testimony & sources — Where Are They
Other
Richard F. Haines: testimony & sources — Where Are They # Richard F. Haines Also known as Richard Haines, Dr. Richard Haines - Former chief of the Space Human Factors Office, NASA Ames Research Center; chief scientist, National Aviation Reporting Center on Anomalous Phenomena (NARCAP) Richard F. Hai
Read source