--- title: "Airline Pilot Reports Contact With “Fast Moving, Cylindrical” Object" description: "In a bizarre encounter, a commercial airline pilot spotted a \"long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile\" flying overhead." date: "2021-02-24" modified: "2021-02-24" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/airline-pilot-contact-cylindrical-object" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "american airlines" - "FAA" - "the digest" - "ufos" --- # Airline Pilot Reports Contact With “Fast Moving, Cylindrical” Object ![In a bizarre encounter, a commercial airline pilot spotted a "long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile" flying overhead.]() *\Image: Victor Tangermann\* ## Long Cylindrical Object In a bizarre encounter, a commercial airline pilot flying from Cincinnati to Phoenix spotted what its crew described as a "long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile," as [*The War Zone* reported]() on Sunday. The encounter occurred over a remote area of northeastern New Mexico at 36,000 feet. The unusual object zipped by as the Airbus A320 was flying at 400 knots (460 mph). Radio interceptor Steve Douglass caught a radio exchange involving the pilot in the immediate aftermath of the strange encounter. "Do you have any targets up here?" the pilot said, according to [Douglass' recordings](). "We just had something go right over the top of us — I hate to say this but it looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing — moving really fast right over the top of us." https://youtu.be/ZmUOZkSKCaY ## Investigations American Airlines [confirmed the encounter]() with *The War Zone* on Tuesday, referring the outlet to the FBI for "any additional questions," implying the federal bureau is investigating. The Federal Aviation Administration, however, has yet to comment on the incident. It's hard to make sense of the unusual incident. As always, Occam's razor prevails: the chances that Flight 2292 made an encounter with an unidentified spacecraft is exceedingly unlikely, and the chances that it was something more ordinary are high. **READ MORE:** [American Airlines Confirms Encounter With Unidentified Cylindrical Object Over New Mexico]() \[*The War Zone*\] **More on strange encounters:** [*Utah Monolith Disappears From the Desert*]() ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()