A American Airlines pilot saw what he described as a “long, cylindrical object” zooming over the plane he flew to Phoenix in the sky over New Mexico on Sunday. The FBI said it was aware of the incident, and the Pentagon said the military did not conduct tests in the area that day.
“Do you have goals here?” one of the pilots of American Flight 2292 asked the air traffic controllers, according to a recording of the broadcast obtained by CBS News. “Something just passed over us that – I don’t like to say this – looked like a long, cylindrical object that looked almost like some kind of cruise missile moving very quickly and passing over us.”
American confirmed that Flight 2292 was on its way from the Cincinnati airport to Phoenix. The airline referred additional questions to the FBI, which said it was aware of the incident.
“While our policy is not to confirm or deny investigations, the FBI is continuously working with our federal, state, local, and tribal partners to share information and protect the public,” said field office spokesman Frank Fisher. FBI in Albuquerque, New Mexico. said in a statement. “Anyone who is aware of any suspicious or criminal activity should contact the local police or the FBI.”
The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the pilot reported the sighting over New Mexico shortly after Sunday afternoon. The agency said air traffic controllers did not see any object in the area on their radar scopes.
A Pentagon spokesman David Martin told CBS News National Security Correspondent that the reported sighting occurred about 400 miles away from the Army’s White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico. The spokesman said the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as DARPAThe Missile Defense Agency and the US Strategic Command did not conduct tests from missile range on Sunday.