O'Hare International Airport, Chicago

41°58′N, 87°54′W — Cook County, Illinois — primary international airport serving Chicago

What's documented

Chicago O'Hare International Airport is one of the world's busiest airports, located in the northwest portion of Cook County, Illinois. On 7 November 2006 at approximately 4:15 PM Central, an estimated twelve United Airlines employees, including a Flight 446 ramp manager and at least one pilot, observed a metallic disc-shaped object hovering motionlessly over Gate C-17 at Terminal 1 for approximately five minutes. The object reportedly departed vertically through the cloud ceiling, leaving a visible circular gap. The FAA initially denied receiving any report; the Chicago Tribune broke the story on 1 January 2007.

Notable & intriguing

FAA spokesperson Elizabeth Isham Cory initially told the Chicago Tribune the agency had no record of the 7 November 2006 incident. After Tribune reporter Jon Hilkevitch filed a FOIA request, the FAA released an internal voice transcript of the United operations manager calling FAA Tower with a sighting report; the FAA's public position was then revised to acknowledge the call but ascribe the sighting to a 'weather phenomenon.'

Chicago Tribune, 1 January 2007; FAA FOIA response to Hilkevitch, 18 December 2006
United Airlines internal documents released via FOIA confirm the airline directed employees not to discuss the event publicly. The FAA disclaimed any need for investigation under the 1996 'Aviation Weather Phenomena' policy directive — the same policy used to deny investigation of the JAL Flight 1628 incident of 17 November 1986 over Alaska.

Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune, 'In the sky! A bird? A plane? A...UFO?' (1 January 2007)

Public-record imagery

Terminal 1, Gate C, at Chicago O'Hare — where on 7 November 2006 United Airlines staff reported a disc hovering over Gate C-17.Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · 李元顥 · Take

Takeoff from runway 22R at Chicago O'Hare. On 7 November 2006, twelve United Airlines employees at Gate C17 reported a gray disc hovering 1,900 feet above the gate for approximately five minutes. It allegedly punched a circular hole through the cloud deck before disappearing vertically.Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · Magic Aviation · 2012

Chicago O'Hare from the air. The 2006 incident was reported to United dispatch and the FAA; the FAA initially declined to investigate, calling it a 'weather phenomenon,' and was reversed only after Jon Hilkevitch broke the story in the Chicago Tribune.Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · Curimedia · 2012

Terminal One at O'Hare — United's main hub. No photograph of the 2006 object was ever submitted; United said its security cameras 'did not capture' the disc despite the gate being one of the most surveilled spaces in the airport.Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · Rex Babiera · 21 F