An American Airlines pilot reported that a tall, cylindrical object surprisingly came close to the plane while flying over New Mexico.
The strange incident, which took place during a flight from Kentucky to Phoenix on Sunday, is being investigated by the FBI, the agency said in a statement.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, the pilot called air traffic control shortly after noon local time to see the object.
“Do you have any targets up here?” the pilot is heard on a radio broadcast. “We just had something above us that – I hate to say – looked like a long, cylindrical object.”
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“It almost seemed like some kind of thing moving fast was sticking out above us,” the pilot added.
The FAA said in a statement that air traffic controllers “did not see any object in the area on their radar scopes.”
American Airlines confirmed that the radio call came from one of its flights, but postponed further questions to the FBI.
“After a breakdown of our flight crew and additional information received, we can confirm that the February 21st radio broadcast was from American Airlines Flight 2292,” the airline said.