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winds at 4 knots. Between 4:00 and 4:30 p.m. on that afternoon, pilots, managers, and mechanics from United Airlines looked up from their ground positions at the terminal and saw the strange object hovering just under a cloud bank, which began at 1,900 feet above the ground. According to these witnesses, the metallic-looking disc was about the size of a quarter or half dollar held at arm's length. Based on the collection of eyewitness testimony, the UFO is estimated to have ranged in size from about 22 to 88 feet in diameter, and was suspended at approximately 1,500 feet over Gate C17 at the United terminal. A pilot announced the sighting over in-bound ground radio for all grounded planes; a United taxi mechanic moving a Boeing 777 heard radio chatter about the flying disc and looked up; pilots waiting to take off opened the front windows to lean out and see the object for themselves. There was a buzz at United Airlines. One management employee received a radio call about the hovering object, and ran outside to view it for himself. He then called the United operations center, made sure the FAA was contacted, and drove out on the concourse to speak directly with Reports show the event lasted from about five to fifteen minutes. Then, with many eyes now fixated on it, the suspended disc suddenly shot up at an incredible speed and was gone in less than a second, leaving a crisp, cookie-cutter-like hole in the dense clouds. The opening was a4 a 1 a4 crisp, cookie-cutter-like hole in the dense clouds. The opening was approximately the same size as the object, and those directly underneath it could see blue sky visible on the other side. After a few minutes the break in the cloud bank closed up as the clouds drifted back together. "This was extremely unusual, according to the witnesses," Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch told television news after extremely unusual, according to the witnesses," Chicago Tribune transportation reporter Jon Hilkevitch told television news after interviewing the United witnesses for his story. "Airplanes just don't react like this. They slice through clouds." This was definitely not an airplane, the observers said, and many seemed shaken by what they had seen. Some were awed; others afraid. "The witness credibility is beyond question, and safety was a big concern," Hilkevitch said during a phone conversation. He noted that all observers independently described the same thing: a hovering disc making no noise as it shot up and left a clear hole in the clouds. "The only discrepancies were their size estimations and that some said it was rotating or spinning," 1 . 44 unusual, the witnesses," Chica 1 told television Tribune to told after Jon | news he told me. Sadly, every one of these highly credible aviation witnesses to the O'Hare UFO—and there were many-has chosen to remain anonymous, due to fears for job security. One United employee told me he could otherwise be perceived as "betraying" his company. Witnesses do not want to be "caught talking to the media since the airline had officially claimed that nothing happened," he wrote in an e-mail. These witnesses to something that's not supposed to exist-something laughed at by their colleagues— were left alone with their unsettling observations. "I realize this is a witnesses there.