O'Hare UFO 2006: CNN's interview with United mechanic “Joe”, and Tribune reporter Jon Hilkevitch

0:00 This one, a UFO mystery at one of the nation's busiest airports. Several pilots, apparently, and United Airlines workers at Chicago's O'Hare swear they saw one. A UFO! They say it hovered over a terminal without lights before shooting straight up right through the clouds last fall. The FAA still is investigating, but federal officials believe it was just some strange weather phenomenon. Flights come to Chicago's O'Hare Airport from all over the world. But do they come from other worlds? You don't believe this was possibly your imagination. It was definitely not my imagination. Joe was a mechanic for United Airlines. While taxiing a jumbo jet to the hangar, he and another mechanic... Looked out the window in the general direction and noticed an object up in the sky, a dark gray object sitting above the terminal complex. Joe, which is not his real name, is one of several airport workers, some of whom have talked to the Chicago Tribune, who said they saw a saucer-shaped UFO hovering just beneath the clouds at the

1:01 airport. He's the first to go on camera to talk about it since this happened several weeks ago. He wants to remain anonymous. But you're sure it was some kind of object that normally would not be above O'Hare Airport? I've been at O'Hare for quite some time, and let's just say that I've never seen an object in my time that looked like this. And I'll tell you, definitely, it was not an airplane as we know it. But it could be an airplane as another world knows it. Possibly. We brought in one of Chicago's top sketch artists. Followed the contours of the object. To listen to Joe and draw a picture of what he says he saw. More of like an oval. Dark gray oval. Because no photos have surfaced, and Joe doesn't know of any. Now, it didn't say Goodyear on it, did it? No Goodyear, no. That's a really good drawing. Is that what it looks like? Very much so, yeah. Other witnesses told an organization called the National UFO Reporting Center that the object eventually shot straight up in the sky at a great rate of speed. It looked like literally someone had poked a hole in the clouds. It's a round hole. Joe thinks the disk is either a stealthy

2:02 military project or a spacecraft from another planet. But... I find it very strange or very peculiar that somebody who possesses the technology to travel between star systems would sit over an airport in Chicago. Hard to argue that. A spokesperson for United Airlines says we are aware of what the employees said they saw. But this is not something United would investigate. Talk to the FAA, says the airline. The TSA and the Chicago Department of Aviation also told us to talk to the FAA. So we did. And an FAA spokesperson told us we, too, don't have the power to investigate. The FAA adds that radar did not pick up anything out of the ordinary. And the sighting might have been caused by a weather phenomenon. And you don't believe it was a weather phenomenon? Not at all. Not for a minute. O'Hare has apparently been UFO-free since that November afternoon. Although Joe now tends to pay special attention to that same patch of airport sky. Gary Tuchman, CNN, Chicago.

3:03 Oh, hey. Good job. Hey, John. Hey, Jim. How are you? Well, fine, thanks. Busy with this UFO stuff. Oh, my God. Did you see it hit the Fox crawl on Monday night? Did it? It's just been everywhere. I mean, I've been on CNN to my fourth appearance today. Really? Every MSNBC, every network. Oh, my goodness. And just worldwide. I mean, Australia, everywhere. That's what we're going to start off. I'm going to say, John, the response has been, well, out of this world, hasn't it? Congratulations. So where's the latest on the investigation, the FAA, then? Well, uh... Or is it by this time tomorrow going to prove a lot? Yeah, United is now acknowledging that they were approached by employees, so they've done that flip-flop. And I'm trying to locate photos of this. I'm told there may be photos. Oh, really? Wow. That would be cool.

4:05 I'm told that the story on CT has almost a million hits. Yeah, it's the most read story in the history of CT.com. Are you kidding me? No, I got an email yesterday from Bill Adi. Wow. I mean, it's like, yeah, in the entire history of the website. Oh, incredible. Incredible. So does the possibility exist? You might get the pictures and get them in for tomorrow? Oh, no, I don't think... No, no, no, no. I mean, I'm told the pilots on that plane that was being pushed back, you know, I said in the story that they opened the windscreen and stuck their head out. Now I'm being told that one of them had a digital camera and snapped some pictures. Wow. So United is not playing ball with me, and FAA, I've expanded my FOIA to include the flight plan, which might include the pilots' names. And I'm trying to work with the union as well. Are they still going by weather phenomenon? FAA, you know, pretty much because of the

5:06 federal holiday, I haven't talked to them that much. But yeah, they haven't changed their story. And I've just heard from other people, you know, since then that, you know, that explanation just doesn't wash. And they haven't gone out of their way to say anything otherwise so far? No. I mean, they say, you know, it was November 7th, they're moving on, they're just doing their daily thing. Well, I tell you what, all the people who saw it must be being a little validated right about now, huh? Oh yeah, and I'm getting tons of emails from other people outside the airport as well as at O'Hare. Really? They've also either sighted that same object or saw the hole in the sky and said, what is that? Wow. Okay, so what did it look like again to the folks who saw it? It was a saucer-like, hovering over the United Terminal, right? Yeah, right over, directly over gate C-17, and it was stationary in the sky, dark gray, metallic, you know, like I say, saucer-shaped, no lights, and it was there for some minutes.

6:08 And then when it disappeared, it just streaked through the clouds with such energy that it broke a big, a blue hole in the overcast, and the hole remained there for several minutes until the wind drifted and pushed the clouds back together. So the blue was the sky? Yeah, the blue was the sky, but otherwise, the entire skyline was cloudy. Totally overcast, huh? Man. So, you know, it's nothing, an airplane just doesn't react like that. It slices through, and it doesn't disturb the atmosphere. Hmm. Man. I'm so sorry to keep you guys waiting. All right, you can give me a question. I want you to be graphic. Do you have any other interviews set up after this, John? Yeah, I'm going back on a radio station, a couple of radio stations this afternoon, and then Headline News has a show I'm doing at 3 o'clock. Okay. Ooh, I'll have to watch if I'm... Yeah, we'll have to set by then.

7:11 Okay, Australia, what other international? Oh, my God. I mean, all over Europe. Oh, my gosh. You know, hearing from people, you know, Ireland, they say, you know, we heard about what's happening at O'Hara. You're kidding? I mean... Butch O'Hara. I mean, just... Wow. As well as serious, you know, researchers at major U.S. universities who have attempted to do their own investigations, and when they go to the government to try to get information, they get stonewalled. So there really is this universal feeling that the government knows a lot more than it's willing to tell. Oh, man. Okay. I'm just going to say... Yeah, I said... Okay, here we go. I am so... I think it's so cool that I was the first one to get to talk to you about it. That's right. Last Friday. Yay. Okay. The UFO hair story, the Chicago Tribune,

8:12 exclusively broke on New Year's Day, is garnering attention around the world. Joining us now to talk about it once again is Tribune transportation writer John Hilkovich, who broke the story. And, John, the response has been, well, out of this world, hasn't it? Yes, it has been astronomical, Jim. Every major country, it seems, people have written in both those who claims they've spotted UFOs during their life, as well as serious researchers. I mean, just the last two days, this is my email. And these are the serious emails. You know, the ones from kooks who said they were brought aboard an alien spacecraft I put in a circular file. So it's just a story that has legs, and people are fascinated by the thoughts, and I think there's some belief that there are advanced life forms that are visiting us here on a regular basis. You've been contacted now in the last few days by several countries, but that also includes serious university researchers here in the U.S. You know, I've got to tell you, too, I got a call from my dad in California Monday night, and he's like, what is up with the O'Hare UFOs? I'm like, where did you see that? Where did you read that?

9:13 Well, it was on Fox Network's crawl at the bottom. It's just amazing how much this is garnering. Yeah, it really is, and worldwide attention, as you say. And from people who have observed, made observations themselves, including on November 7th, the date of this incident, additional people both at O'Hare and outside the airport who have either seen this gray disc-shaped metallic object themselves, or they saw that huge hole in the sky that the object created when it vanished. Let's go over that one more time. What did people see when it all of a sudden vanished right through the clouds over the United Terminal? And then how has the FAA been reacting the past few days, too? Any new ground on that? Well, the object was hovering in a stationary position about 1,500 feet above the United Terminal for some minutes. And then when it left, it just burst through this thick cloud layer, creating a large open space of blue sky on an otherwise overcast day. It took some minutes for that opening to close up when the clouds drifted back

10:13 together. And it's just extremely unusual, according to the witnesses. I mean, airplanes just don't react like this. They slice through clouds, and they really don't disturb the atmosphere that much, except for the wingtips and such. The FAA is still pinning this to some kind of weather phenomenon, that some lights from the airport at the overcast sky somehow got together and created this image. But weather experts, astronomy experts, others that I've talked to have said that that's bunk. That explanation just doesn't wash. United, on the other hand, after first denying that they got any reports from employees about this sighting, is now saying, yes, indeed, their employees did approach them immediately because of concerns about safety. And to reiterate, John, the witnesses who originally came to you are all seasoned, professional, credible professionals like pilots who saw this. They're pilots, they're senior managers, they're mechanics, and others. So, you know, they are very truthful about what they're saying, and we're trying to locate photographs, if

11:15 they do exist, of this incident. Well, John, we know you have plenty of other interviews to do today with other countries, so we'll let you go, and we'll keep our eyes to the sky. Thanks. Thank you, Jim. We're just checking out with good things. This is just incredible. No, actually... Isn't it amazing what really garners people's... Yeah. For various reasons, I suppose, you know? How cool. Yeah, no, it's... I can't wait to see in a week where this stands, you know? Yeah. I'm just amazed I'm still getting requests for interviews because... Cool. Thanks, John. Thanks, Jim. I would have landed, but... John is here. Now, why don't we tell you, this is the UFO story that was mentioned on the Colbert Report last night. This is what, a four-year-old story? Yeah, the story ran January 1st, 2007, based on an alleged incident that occurred at O'Hare above gate C-17 on November 7th, 2006.

12:16 The reason there was a several-month lag in us reporting it or even deciding whether to report it at all was that I had to track down the witnesses of this alleged incident. And what fascinated me was the fact that these were all such credible observers. These were pilots. These were ramp workers and mechanics who were jockeying planes back and forth from the hangar who all, down to a person, reported the exact same sighting. This metallic gray spear-shaped or disc-shaped object hovering stationary in place about 1,500 feet above gate C-17. And then they all described this departure where it just left suddenly with such velocity and speed that it poked this donut-shaped hole in what was otherwise a very cloud-covered sky that day. So it's an intriguing story. Right. That you reported the Tribune. And its new life is what? Well, its new life is there's a new book by an author named Leslie Keene.

13:18 And Ms. Keene was on the Colbert Report last night. And she brought up the O'Hare sighting in which Stephen Colbert said he had never heard of it. So he asked, how do I find that on Google? And that unleashed the floodgates. So this morning, did you watch the Colbert Report last night? I did not. So how did you find out about this? Well, two ways. One, I got an early morning call from a producer at WGN Radio asking me to come on. And I had just had my first cup of coffee. So I was like, okay, so what's the news here? This is almost a four-year-old story. And then shortly after that, I received, as I do almost every day, emails from UFO enthusiasts and researchers who were talking about this Colbert Report the previous night. So I quickly got up to speed. Let me repeat that. I quickly got up to speed on what was happening. So let me ask you, in this event, what is the most credible aspect of this event?

14:20 I think maybe we're getting into this. The most credible aspect of this, you know, with what a UFO setting is. Well, the most credible part is that pilots, numerous pilots, including the two pilots at C-17, opened their windows and peered out the cockpit and both saw in great detail, you know, what they perceived to be a UFO. And they said it couldn't have been a light show. It could not have been a weather phenomenon as the FAA later said it must have been. And I have documentation between United Airlines managers to their bosses saying we've received reports of this from our employees. What do we do? Some of these employees were brought in, interviewed, even asked to draw sketches of what they saw. So what's equally important is not just the caliber of these witnesses, but the Tribune's ability to document, for no better word, a

15:22 cover-up by both United Airlines and the FAA. Because when I went to both parties, they flatly said they knew nothing about this, that my call was the first information they received. And in fact, I have correspondence that shows that they clearly were told about it and communicated internally and externally about it. And so what is the, is there anything that blows a hole in this thing? Well, what blows a hole in this theory is that no air traffic controller saw it, that nobody with a camera phone at O'Hare happened to stamp a picture of this. And, you know, this spaceship, if it was so, is long gone. So, an alien abduction case, but in the figurative sense, it has abducted your day. It has abducted my day. I have put aside two or three other stories and I'm working on this today.