Nov 16, 2017 05:45 PM
(This post was last modified: Nov 16, 2017 08:26 PM by Yazata.)
This was an unknown aircraft flying at 35,000-37,000 feet moving north out of California into Oregon at jet airliner speed. Oakland ATCC (which handles the SW US) saw it illuminated on their radars, but showing no transponder signals that would identify it. They alerted Seattle ATCC (which handles the NW US). Seattle ATCC's radars couldn't see it. Seattle asked airline pilots in the vicinity to keep an eye out for safety reasons and in hopes of identifying it. Some of these pilots reportedly saw a white aircraft, but too far away to identify the aircraft type. By now the alarm was traveling through the FAA and NORAD. Oregon Air National Guard F-15 interceptors were scrambled from Portland International where they are based, but couldn't find the aircraft.
The response afterwards was interesting too. Seattle ATCC's communications with airliners in the vicinity were recorded and verify the story of them alerting the airliners to be on the lookout for an unknown aircraft in their vicinity. Lots of conversation back and forth on the air traffic control frequencies for about 20 minutes.
But later, both the FAA and NORAD clammed up and had nothing to say. So speculation is that this was a classified military type of some kind, perhaps transiting from some secret airbase in the Southwest to Boeing in Seattle which might have manufactured it.
But from what I know of movements of secret military aircraft they typically do use transponders and call-signs for safety reasons as they move through civilian air lanes, but refuse to identify what type of aircraft they are. When controllers ask "say type", the pilot typically responds "classified military type". But that didn't happen here.
There was one well known incident reported in the Jan 12, 2004 Aviation Week where a mystery aircraft with the callsign "Lockheed Test 2334" refused to identify what kind of aircraft it was (the pilot said "classified type") above the Pecos Military Operating Area in eastern New Mexico, informed Albuquerque ATCC that it would be going supersonic "somewhere above flight level 60" (60,000 ft, well above air traffic) and just 15 minutes later the same callsign was heard asking for clearance to land in the Nellis Range (site of area 51) north of Vegas, suggesting an SR-71 or something like that.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/160...ver-oregon
The response afterwards was interesting too. Seattle ATCC's communications with airliners in the vicinity were recorded and verify the story of them alerting the airliners to be on the lookout for an unknown aircraft in their vicinity. Lots of conversation back and forth on the air traffic control frequencies for about 20 minutes.
But later, both the FAA and NORAD clammed up and had nothing to say. So speculation is that this was a classified military type of some kind, perhaps transiting from some secret airbase in the Southwest to Boeing in Seattle which might have manufactured it.
But from what I know of movements of secret military aircraft they typically do use transponders and call-signs for safety reasons as they move through civilian air lanes, but refuse to identify what type of aircraft they are. When controllers ask "say type", the pilot typically responds "classified military type". But that didn't happen here.
There was one well known incident reported in the Jan 12, 2004 Aviation Week where a mystery aircraft with the callsign "Lockheed Test 2334" refused to identify what kind of aircraft it was (the pilot said "classified type") above the Pecos Military Operating Area in eastern New Mexico, informed Albuquerque ATCC that it would be going supersonic "somewhere above flight level 60" (60,000 ft, well above air traffic) and just 15 minutes later the same callsign was heard asking for clearance to land in the Nellis Range (site of area 51) north of Vegas, suggesting an SR-71 or something like that.
http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/160...ver-oregon
