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weather phenomenon that requires freezing temperatures to occur—despite the fact that the temperatures at O'Hare that afternoon were well above ce a 1 a4 : ” ce freezing. Such irresponsible statements serve to discourage witnesses from filing reports, which would normally be the first step in conducting any sort of investigation. [14] Unfortunately, the FAA seems like an even less likely candidate than NASA to take on UFOs at this point. A comparison with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of our closest ally, the United Kingdom, is in order. There, it is mandatory to report any incident where pilots or aircrews believe there has been any danger to their aircraft—whatever the source. Then the CAA and other authorities have the basis upon which to decide if an investigation is warranted. After Captain Ray Bowyer and his passengers observed a pair of brilliant objects over the English Channel in 2007, the first thing Bowyer did upon landing was fax a report to the CAA, following standard required procedure. There was no attempt by his airline or anyone else to hush up the story, which was reported by the BBC. [15] In fact, many CAA files on unsolved cases involving pilots, air traffic controllers, and ground crews have been released. For example, in 1999, a BBC news item reported that "a UFO that narrowly avoided colliding with a passenger jet flying from London's Heathrow Airport has baffled aviation experts." A metallic object passed within twenty feet of the aircraft, but for some reason was not picked up on radar. The BBC reports that the pilot filed a near-miss report (an "airprox") and that "a report by the Civil Aviation Authority found no explanation for the incident which has also confounded local military experts and local police." [16] Imagine if the FAA had made such a statement about the equally radarless O'Hare incident. Being used to a saner approach. Captain Bowyer found the U.S. "non-reporting system" hard to imagine, because the CAA makes no distinction among the possible causes of distress on aircraft. How odd, upon reflection, that America's FAA seems to discount one rare hazard—unidentified flying objects—and recognizes all others, even if the potential impact could be the same. The FAA provides no reporting forms for these kinds of sightings —although it does offer report forms for volcanic activity and bird strikes, and a detailed "laser beam exposure questionnaire." ec policy, the agency has informed its employees that it wants nothing to do with reports of UFOs or anything anomalous, no matter how severe the danger to the aircraft or the lives within it. The 2010 FAA Aeronautical Information Manual, [17] in Section 6 on "Safety, Accident, and Hazard Reports," states that "persons wanting to report UFO/unexplained phenomena activity" should contact a collection center such as Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies, a new research organization focusing on novel and emerging spacecraft technologies, or the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), a civilian group with a UFO hotline and states to report The FAA does not try to hide its discrimination. As a matter of