It sounds like something that could never happen. A plane filled with passengers passes an unidentified flying object and everyone on board crowds around the windows to see what the strange thing is. The pilot has to adjust his controls to check the fact that everyone on the plane has moved to one side and is looking through the portholes in the side as a massive unidentified flying shape suddenly appears to the side. The massive object displays characteristics that no one can identify. Then, shortly afterward, no one hears about the sighting in the news. This is not atypical when it comes to UFO close encounters with jet airliners.
Pilots have long reported a strange myopia in regards to unidentified flying objects from the FAA. There have been reports of pilots losing their license over seeing just one strange flying object they couldn’t identify. There are other reports of pilots being silenced by shadowy figures who say going public might not be good for their health. But in the end we’re only left with a mountain of staggeringly strange data and a plethora of reports that something unusual is following our passenger airliners as they move from coast to coast and overseas.
On May 25, 1995 America West Flight 564 ascended to a height of 39,000 feet as it moved past Bovina, Texas. As the flight crew suddenly spotted a row of what appeared to be flashing white lights the others onboard were suddenly cautious of the unidentified flying object. After years of flight experience neither pilot knew what they were looking at. Still others felt the same way onboard the airliner. As they continued to observe the strange craft on the horizon they contacted the Northern Air Radar Defense to see what they could find out about the nature of this mystery craft. They found nothing.
As they continued their flight they could only figure out that something seemed strange about the object other than its size. After investigating they would contact NORAD who would state that no such object had been identified. It has been said several times by ex-NORAD officials that in some circumstances they will not report UFOs to civilians if they don’t seem to pose any threat. Was this one of those circumstances?
Regardless, there are dozens of reports similar to the 564 sighting of 1995 filling up volumes of books on the subject. And most pilots who have encountered such an object say that under no circumstances would they reveal an unidentified flying object passing in front of them for fear of what might happen to them. Only after retirement do many of these pilots eventually speak out about the subject and inform the public that when they fly through the friendly skies they may not be alone. Objects have been reported performing maneuvers around airplanes, corkscrewing around the fuselage, following behind (viewed from other aircraft nearby), staying ahead of the nose, hanging off in the distance, and even on some occasions becoming an immaterial ball of light and entering the plane itself. Explanations have ranged from weather balloons to ball lightning, but none have sufficiently explained all the incidents.