In a startling revelation, newly leaked audio has surfaced detailing a close encounter experienced by a U.S. Air Force pilot during a secret flight over California last September. The pilot reported seeing a “football-sized,” cylindrical unidentified flying object (UFO) pass closely by his jet, raising eyebrows and igniting discussions about aerial phenomena.
On September 17, the pilot, identified by the call sign “Troy 21,” was flying a Beechcraft 350 C through controlled airspace when he spotted the unusual object. The incident occurred on a clear afternoon as he communicated with air traffic control in Los Angeles at approximately 2:30 p.m. “This is going to sound weird,” Troy 21 told the controller, “But I just had something pass underneath my wing. Maybe a football-sized object right under my wing.”
The flight was reportedly part of a military-related mission
The flight was reportedly part of a military-related mission involving the Department of Homeland Security. When questioned by the air traffic controller about whether he believed the object could have been a drone, the pilot, cruising at an altitude of 20,000 feet, expressed uncertainty. Experts noted that while some military and hobbyist drones can reach such heights, they are relatively uncommon.
“I’ve got my sensor operator looking for it on the camera right now; we’ll see if we can find it,” Troy 21 added. He described the object as “a dark gray, cylindrical object” that passed approximately ten feet beneath his right wing.
Leaked audio reveals shocking details of the incident
Approximately one minute later, the pilot reported detecting an object on his jet’s air-to-air radar. About 40 seconds after that, he indicated seeing another object on radar located 60 miles away. However, it remains unclear if this was the same object that had passed under his wing. For these two sightings to be connected, the UFO would have had to travel at speeds exceeding Mach 2 to cover that distance in such a short time frame.
Later in the recording, another air traffic controller remarked, “There was a UFO reported here, but that’s all taken care of now.” One of the controllers subsequently reported the sighting to the National UFO Reporting Center.
This incident bears striking similarities to a sighting reported by former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao, who encountered two cylindrical metallic orbs while piloting his personal aircraft over Texas last summer. Chiao described how these objects passed roughly ten feet beneath his wings and exhibited no visible means of propulsion. “There was nothing around me other than the panhandle of Texas at nine-thousand feet on this instrument flight plan and just suddenly these things appeared,” Chiao recounted. He expressed concern over the implications of such sightings occurring in controlled airspace.
“That was my first thought, that this must be some secret military program,” Chiao pondered. “But what the hell are they doing flying it where airplanes are operating, especially under instrument flight rules? Why wouldn’t they be in military airspace?” As interest in UFO sightings continues to grow, incidents like these are prompting deeper investigations into aerial phenomena and their potential implications for aviation safety and national security.
