Summary
United Airlines ground crew and pilots at O'Hare reported a silent grey disc hovering at low altitude in restricted airspace for minutes, then shooting vertically through the cloud layer, leaving a clean circular hole.
Detail
In November 2006, United Airlines ground crew and pilots at Gate C17 of Chicago's O'Hare Airport reported a silent, grey disc-shaped object hovering at low altitude in restricted airspace for several minutes, then shooting vertically through the overcast and leaving a sharply defined circular hole in the cloud layer. The FAA initially denied any reports were filed; United confirmed the sighting only after the Chicago Tribune obtained internal communications via a Freedom of Information Act request. The FAA declined to investigate, attributing it to a weather phenomenon — a conclusion the eyewitnesses publicly disputed.
