When we look for visitors to this planet our eyes are inevitably drawn to the skies above.
We expect we will find evidence either by looking through telescopes or scanning our skies for tourists and, so far, of the two methods the second has caused more speculation among people than it has ever given proof of anything.
And while Mulder and Scully may have hung it up with The X-Files this past season that hasn’t stopped real world sightings of unidentified flying objects, or UFOs.
The latest comes from an American Airlines pilot and a private Learjet pilot in Arizona, who both claim to have seen a UFO recently while flying.
On February 24 one of the pilots asked ground control, “Was anybody, uh, above us that passed us like 30 seconds ago,” to which the operator responded that was a negative.
Then American Airlines flight 1095 was alerted by ground control of this as a head’s up and to ask the pilot of that flight if he saw anything. In what is becoming a viral news story, the pilot confirmed the unidentified flying object.
The transcript response according to CNN read: “”It’s American 1095. Yeah, something just passed over us…I don’t know what it was, but at least two-three thousand feet above us. Yeah, it passed right over the top of us.”
Since the release of the recording the airline has remained mum on the subject and has forwarded all questions about the mysterious craft to the FAA.
For their part the Federal Aviation Administration is downplaying the UFO aspect of it, emphasizing that it was unlikely a spacecraft piloted by aliens. Speaking on the unidentified craft, an FAA spokesperson said, “We have a close working relationship with a number of other agencies and safely handle military aircraft and civilian aircraft of all types in that area every day, including high-altitude weather balloons.”
When pressed about the weather balloon explanation the FAA official was unable to confirm the presence of a weather balloon during the encounter the two pilots had in Albuquerque with an unidentified craft.
And, of course, none of this has done anything to stop the romantics among us who believe in life beyond this planet and look for any evidence of it. Not only are these incidents a common occurrence around the world but also they fuel speculation and conspiracy theories that have persisted for years. One tantalizingly irresistible aspect of this whole story is its location – Roswell, New Mexico is nearby. For those of you who know about Area 51, Roswell, New Mexico is the location of more UFO and alien conspiracies than perhaps anywhere else in the United States.
Basically, having UFOs reported here is like having a grape sighting in California’s vineyards – it’s where people who want to “know” go to look and, as such, it has become a beacon for believers and conspiracy theorists alike. While this latest UFO encounter does little to prove (or disprove) the existence of extraterrestrial life it does add more fuel to the fire of speculation. Moreover, the FAA has often offered explanations like weather balloons and other monitoring craft for its explanations of these events but these accounts often seem to fall short of explaining what it is exactly pilots encountered.