Ham radio operator hears American Airlines pilot report UFO

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Description: This case was reported to me by Erica Lukes who is the director of MUFON for the state of Utah. She knows a radio show host who was scanning communications between aircraft and the FAA shortly after midnight on January 14, 2016. He heard a conversation between an airline pilot and Air Route Traffic Control. The pilot reported seeing an extremely long bright object that he estimated a mile wide to his right. The air traffic controller told him that he was looking in the direction of Nephi, Utah. Apparently the air traffic controller told the pilot that the object was not detected on radar. The object appeared to keep pace with the aircraft.

Research showed that the aircraft was American Airlines Flight Number 434 which was enroute from San Francisco, CA to Philadelphia, PA. The actual sighting time was between 12:12 and 12:13 AM MST on January 14, 2016. We were able to find segments of the conversation on the Air Traffic Control archives website, but much of conversation was deleted. One could hear the controller telling the pilot that Nephi, Utah was off to his right and the pilot acknowledging the transmission. However, the UFO report was not on the tape. The ham radio operator did not record the conversation so the “UFO report” could not be heard. He heard the conversation on the frequency of 127.95 mhz.

The route of aircraft was determined from available aircraft radar maps for the flight. (See map above.) The aircraft was flying at 31,000 feet at the time of sighting. The Doppler radar map for Salt Lake City was also obtained. The map does show some returns in the area and at the time of the sighting. The radar was operating in “clear air mode” which means that the gain is turned up making it more sensitive. (See radar map above.)

Note: A Freedom of Information (FOIA) request has been written to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). We are asking for radar returns, voice tapes and tower logs. Updates will be made when data are received and analyzed.

Request: Any passengers on American Airlines Fight number 434 are urged to
file a report if they saw anything unusual on the flight. Please note the time of your sighting in the report. The flight left San Francisco at 10:08 PM PST on Wed, Jan 13, 2016 and arrived at Philadelphia at 5:35 AM EST on Jan 14, 2016.

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