Case · C-067

O'Hare: a disc above gate C17 seen by United employees

O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, Illinois · United States · Nov 7, 2006

In flight Mixed witness types

What happened

Around 16:15–16:30 on November 7, 2006, a United Airlines ramp worker and then about a dozen employees, including pilots, supervisors and mechanics, saw a dark gray disc-shaped object, silent, stationary beneath the cloud layer above gate C17; according to some it suddenly rose, leaving a hole in the clouds. Radar recorded nothing and the controllers did not see it. The FAA and United initially said they had no information; after a FOIA request by the Chicago Tribune, a supervisor's call to the tower came to light and the FAA indicated a weather phenomenon as probable.

Proposed explanation

The FAA suggested a weather phenomenon (low clouds illuminated by the airport's lights) and did not open an investigation; the astronomer Mark Hammergren pointed to conditions suitable for a hole in the clouds (fallstreak hole). Witnesses and UFO researchers dispute the explanation and the lack of further inquiry.

Official investigation

Federal Aviation Administration

Sources

1. Chicago Tribune, “O'Hare UFO sighting in 2006 one of the most famous reported”, 2013 (press)
2. Skeptoid, “The Chicago O'Hare Airport UFO” (episode 926), 2024 (analysis, skeptical)
3. Wikipedia – 2006 O'Hare International Airport UFO sighting (other)

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