An American Airlines pilot reported seeing “a long, cylindrical object” surprisingly close to the plane as it flew over New Mexico.
The strange incident, which occurred on a flight from Kentucky to Phoenix on Sunday, is being investigated by the FBI, the agency said in a statement.
The pilot called air traffic control shortly after noon local time to report that he had seen the object, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
“Do you have goals here?” the pilot hears questions on a radio transmission. “We just got something over us that – I hate to say this – looked like a long, cylindrical object.”
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“It almost looked like some kind of cruise missile moving very fast and going over us,” the pilot added.
The FAA said in a statement that air traffic controllers “have not seen any object in the area on their radar scopes.”
American Airlines confirmed that the radio call was from one of its flights, but delayed further inquiries to the FBI.
“After a debriefing with our flight crew and additional information received, we can confirm that this radio transmission came from American Airlines flight 2292 on February 21,” the airline said.