ufo sighting at O'Hare airport, FOIA process, reactions from various sources, potential existence of advanced life forms.
Transcript
red story in the history of ct.com kidding me no i got an email yesterday from uh bill ade wow i mean it's like yeah i mean entire history of the website oh incredible oh incredible so is the possible does it possibly exist you might get the pictures and get them in for tomorrow or oh no i i don't no no no no i mean i i'm told the pilots on that plane that was being pushed back, you know, I said in the story that they opened the windscreen and stuck their head out. Now I'm being told that one of them had a digital camera and snapped some pictures. Wow. So United's not playing ball with me, and FAA have expanded my FOIA to include the flight plan, which might include the pilots' names, and I'm trying to work with the Union as well are they still going by weather phenomenon FAA you know pretty much because of the federal holiday I haven't talked to them that much but yeah they haven't changed their story and it's I'm just there from other people you know since then you know that that's that explanation just doesn't wash and they haven't gone out of their way to say anything otherwise so far? No, I mean, they say, you know, it was November 7th, they're moving on. They're just doing their daily thing. Well, I tell you what, all the people who saw it must be feeling a little validated right about now, huh? Oh, yeah, and I'm getting tons of e-mails from other people outside the airport as well as at O'Hare who also either sighted that same object or saw the hole in the sky and said, what is that? Wow. Okay, so what did it look like, again, to the folks who saw it? It was a saucer-like, just hovering over the United terminal, right? Yeah, directly over gate C-17. It was stationary in the sky, dark gray metallic,, metallic, like I say, saucer-shaped, no lights, and it was there for some minutes. And then when it disappeared, it just streaked through the clouds with such energy that it broke a big blue hole in the overcast, and the hole remained there for several minutes until the wind drifted and pushed the clouds back together. So the blue was the sky? Yeah, the blue was the sky, but otherwise the entire skyline was cloudy. Totally overcast, huh? Man. An airplane just doesn't react like that. It slices through, and it doesn't disturb the atmosphere. Hmm. Man. I'm so sorry to keep you guys waiting. Our TV is in course now, and it's in traffic. Do you have any other interviews set up after this, John? Yeah, I'm going back on a radio station, a couple of radio stations this afternoon, and Headline News has a show I'm doing at three o'clock. Okay. Ooh, I'll have to watch if I'm... Yeah, we'll have to sit by them. Okay, Australia, what other international? Oh, my God. I mean, all over Europe. Oh, my gosh. You know, hearing from people, you know, Ireland, they say, you know, we heard about what's happening at O'Hara. What? You're kidding? I mean... Which O'Hara? I mean, just... As well as serious, you know, researchers at major U.S. universities who have attempted to do their own investigations, and when they go to the government to try to get information, they get stonewalled. So there really is this universal feeling that the government knows a lot more than it's willing to tell. Oh, man. Okay. Okay. I'm just going to say... Okay, here we go. I am so I think it's so cool that I was the first one to get to talk to you about it. That's right, last Friday. Yay. Okay. The UFO hair story the Chicago Tribune exclusively broke on New Year's Day is garnering attention around the world. Joining us now to talk about it once again is Tribune transportation writer John Hilkovich who broke the story and John the response has been well out of this world hasn't it yes it has been astronomical Jim of every major country it seems people have written in both those who claims they've spotted UFOs during their life as well as serious researchers I mean I mean, just the last two days, this is my e-mail. And these are the serious e-mails, you know, the ones from Kooks who said they were brought aboard alien spacecraft I put in a circular file. So it's just a story that has legs, and people are fascinated by the thought, and I think there's some belief that there are advanced life forms that are visiting us here on a regular basis. You've been contacted now in the last few days by several countries, but that also includes serious university researchers here in the U.S. You know, I've got to tell you, too, I got a call from my dad in California Monday night, and he's like, what is up with the O'Hare UFO story? I'm like, where did you see that? Where did you read that? Well, it was on Fox Network's crawl at the bottom. It's just amazing how much this is garnering. Yeah, is and worldwide attention as you say and from people who have observed made observations themselves including on November 7th the date of this incident additional people both at O'Hare and outside the airport who have either seen this great this shape metallic object themselves or they saw that huge hole in the sky that the object created when it vanished. Let's go over that one more time. What did people see when it all of a sudden vanished right through the clouds over the United Terminal, and then how's the FAA been reacting the past few days, too? Any new ground on that? Okay. Well, the object was hovering in a stationary position about 1,500 feet above the United Terminal for some minutes, and then when it left, it just burst through this thick cloud layer, creating a large open space of blue sky on an otherwise overcast day. It took some minutes for that opening to close up when the clouds drifted back together, and it's just extremely unusual, according to the witnesses. I mean, airplanes just don't react like this. They slice through clouds, and they really don't disturb the atmosphere that much, except for the wingtips and such. The FAA is still pinning this to some kind of weather phenomenon, that some lights from the airport and the overcast skies somehow got together and created this image. But weather experts, astronomy experts, others that I've talked to said that that's bunk. That explanation just doesn't wash. United, on the other hand, after first denying that they got any reports from employees about this sighting, is now saying, yes, indeed, their employees did approach them immediately because of concerns about safety. And to reiterate, John, the witnesses who originally came to you are all seasoned professional, credible professionals like pilots who saw this. They're pilots, they're senior managers, they're mechanics and others. So, you know, they are very truthful about what they're saying and we're trying to locate photographs if they do exist of this incident. John, we know you have plenty of other interviews to do today with other countries, so we'll let you go and we'll keep our eyes to the sky thanks thank you Jim this is just incredible it's isn't it amazing what what really garners people's yeah for various reasons I suppose you know how cool no it's I can't wait to see in a week where this stand you know yeah I'm just amazed I'm still getting requests for interviews because yeah cool thanks John thanks Jim okay illegal aliens may be a serious problem on our southern border and on the northern border but what about the aliens who may be crossing another border oh yes the border above that's right we're talking about outer space aliens extraterrestrials latoya jackson you know you know they're here they're among us more and more people believe that space aliens may coming. Now, listen to this story, because this is an actual news story. This isn't like out of the Weekly World News. Chicago O'Hare's airport recently, the United Airlines employees claim they observed a flying saucer-like object hovering low over the terminal for several minutes before bolting through the thick clouds with such ferocity that it actually left like a creepy hole in the cloudy skies overhead. So what was it? A hoax? An alien attack? Were they observing us? Is this a military operation? What is it? Joining us now is UFO historian Richard Dolan and the guy who actually broke the story. His name is John Hilkovich is from chicago and just chicago tribune john let me start with you the the ufo witnesses in chicago they're not nuts are they they are like really fine upstanding people and they're very serious about this they're all united airlines employees ranging from pilots to supervisors who heard chatter about this on the radio and raced out and saw it in the sky, aircraft mechanics, veterans of O'Hare who have been there for a long time, know how lights can play tricks in the sky, and they say this wasn't that. This was a real metallic gray object low in the sky, and they want answers. Okay, do you believe them? Do you believe them that they believe it, or do you believe that they really saw what they think they saw i believe that what they're reporting and and is real and they were they were concerned about safety they're not necessarily saying that this is a craft from another galaxy but they're saying this is a unidentified flying object low in the sky over the world second busiest airport it could pose a collision risk who knows a security risk in this era post-9-11, and they re... Now let me go to Richard here, I'm sorry to interrupt, but let me go to Richard for just a second and ask you, because isn't this the same kind of thing that when we had the new stealth fighters out, everybody was saying, it's an alien spacecraft, no it's just a secret military aircraft that we hadn't announced for years in advance. Is there a possibility that you think that this is just some sort of military aircraft that we haven't released, that we have? Sure, anything's possible, Glenn. But if you want to go that route, then I think what you need to do, to be honest about it, is go back through the decades and, indeed, generations of reports that we've collected of these types of objects that people have been seeing. And let me just add that this is a phenomenon that not simply civilian people have been dealing with, but U.S. military personnel have been encountering what appear to be UFOs. I don't know what else you would call them. Objects that military pilots have frequently said are disc-shaped, that look exotic, that behave in unusual ways, and that have violated sensitive airspace time and again for many, many years. So if this is a secret, covert project, as many people have speculated, it seems to be going on in a rather confrontational, provocative way, and that really doesn't have any explanation. All right, so John, you think that this is, there was some sort of a cover up, at least the FAA was not real honest with you when you first asked, right? Well yeah, I went to the FAA and they said they have no reports of this at all. I put them a Freedom of Information Act request and then they got back to me several days later saying that in reviewing the communication tapes at O'Hare, they did come across chatter involving this object and that a United supervisor contacted the FAA manager in the tower and asked if the controllers had seen anything unusual. Also United Airlines told me that they had no reports of this, even though the fact is that they were interviewing up to a dozen employees who reported observing this, asking them to write reports, draw pictures. After my story broke on Monday, on Monday United said well yes we have been talking to these employees okay so Richard why would United why would the F what would give me an explanation of why these guys would be hiding this stuff well I mean one reason just might be that they're embarrassed to come out and say that oh yeah you know we've got this UFO hanging out over O'Hare and we don't know what what to do about it. Let's face it, if you're running a large corporation or a bureaucracy, the last thing you want to do is stick your neck out on an issue like this. And so it doesn't surprise me at all. And, in fact, this is, again, part of a long history. FAA, as well, has not always been forthcoming over many, many alleged cases. Witnesses have seen these very bizarre things for years and years, and it's very tough to get a straight answer out of a lot of government agencies or other corporate bodies. All right, but then, John, let me go back to you and ask. I mean, geez, I saw Saddam Hussein hung with a cell phone camera. How come there's no pictures? Are there pictures? Is there video? Is there anything? Here it is over Chicago and O'Hare Airport. How come we don't see any visuals? Well, pictures haven't emerged yet, but I'm told that the flight crew that was being pushed back, one of the pilots did open the windscreen, look out, did identify this object, and he had a digital camera. He may have taken some pictures. We're also hearing other reports that there may be photographs from camera phones and such that United Airlines may be aware of this. And I'm working, believe me, to find these witnesses. OK, if anybody has information on those witnesses, how do they get a hold of you? Jay Hilkovich at ChicagoTribune.com. Yeah, I mean, if you got pictures, man, send them in because I'd like to see them, too. Thank you so much, so much guys appreciate it uh... now let's check in with it a possible motive in the brutal killing is tied to a las vegas strip club he's a las vegas man who claims he can't come and you have those on command pretty wild so we sent action is reporter michael is treated to get the real story but what he found shocked everyone and could leave you wondering are ufos real and forget the short-term fixes and diets that don't work kathy ray has a plan for every lifestyle to help you win the battle of the bulge breaking news solving problems this is channel 13 action news live at 11 good evening and thanks for joining us i'm trisha keen and i'm steve wolford well uh let's take another trip back into the realm of paranormal tonight last night we had ghost hunters now ufos that's right and there is a las vegas guy making an extraordinary claim about extraterrestrials so we sent action news reporter mike del D'Alistretto to check it out. Mike? All right, guys, just listen up here. This guy says the Old Testament written in Hebrew taught him how to summon UFOs. All right, he says he can also do this on command. And he adds he's been doing it for 25 years, keeping all of it secret until now. These beings are here. They're here. They're just sitting right up there. We met up with Prophet Yahweh, seer of Yahweh, at Doolittle Park off Lake Mead. We picked Thanks for watching! These beings are here. They're here. They're just sitting right up there. We met up with Prophet Yahweh, seer of Yahweh at Doolittle Park off Lake Mead. We picked the day, we picked the time, and we picked the location. Everyone's going to think you're absolutely nuts. Well, I thought I was absolutely nuts.