American Airlines Flight 2292, an Airbus A320 operating between Cincinnati and Phoenix on February 21, 2021, had an unusual close encounter with what its crew described as “an elongated cylindrical shape much like a cruise missile.”
According to the pilots, the object was moving very fast over the top of the plane, climbing at 36,000 feet and 400 knots. The event took place in the rural northeast corner of New Mexico County, just west of the small town of Des Moines.
Steve Douglass, an expert radio interceptor and owner of Deep Black Horizon, told the War Zone platform that he was recording scans of his arsenal when he noticed an unusual transmission.
The War Zone analyzed over an hour of audio provided by Douglass (audio can be downloaded here). “We are working to authenticate this with the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) and to obtain more data and comment from the Department on the accident. We contacted American Airlines to gather additional information that they could provide,” the specialized site said yesterday.
As Douglass had said:
At approximately 1:19 CST, the pilot recorded on the Albuquerque center frequency of 127.850 MHz or 134.750 MHz (the recording was not identified with the frequency):
“Do you have a goal up there? We just wanted everything to be about us. I hate to say it, but it looked like a big cylindrical shape, more like some kind of cruise missile, which passed over us very quickly.”
According to Flight 24 and Flight Conscious, AAL 2292 was located in the northeast corner of New Mexico, west of Clayton. The Albuquerque Center did not track any responses because local air traffic (yellow) went through it. At the time of the study, AAL 2292 was close to flight level 370 (37k).
No obvious involvement of military aircraft was detected in the ADS-B record.
The plane had traveled to Phoenix, AZ.
official confirmation
Following attempts to notify law enforcement, he has verified the incident to date, authenticating the records and adding that everything is currently under consideration by the FBI.
“After consulting with our flight crew and providing further details, we can conclude that American Airlines Flight 2292 received the radio transmission on February 21. If you have any further concerns, please contact the FBI,” the American Airlines spokesperson said.
Likewise, The War Zone makes it clear that it will receive more guidance from the FAA soon.
Background
The event was somewhat similar to what happened almost exactly three years earlier in the same city. In the incident, a Learjet and an Airbus had successive close encounters with an unseen aircraft flying overhead as they flew approximately 37,000 feet above eastern Arizona.
Later, an experienced Learjet operator, who had flown with military contractor Phoenix Air, explained to local media how bizarre the incident was.
The missile-like object explanation is also compatible with some of the recorded experiences that US Navy fighter pilots have had with anomalous artifacts off the East Coast over the past decade.
UFO
As for what the pilots of American Airlines Flight 2292 may have seen, we can’t really say at this time. Many will find New Mexico to be home to the sprawling White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) along with other military installations and restricted areas. Even the prospect of a missile “going out of reserve” during a drill or any other typical military excuse seems impossible. This sort of thing has protocols in place and the pilots must have been warned of the security threat.
Furthermore, the possibility that it is any type of secret aircraft is therefore highly doubtful, since it would have flown all day and without engaging in air traffic control over unregulated airspace.
That being said, we should remember that the Mount Dora Military Operations Area (MOA) is in this area, but airline pilots may have been warned that the airspace was “tight” and other potential conflicts. It’s not even a point where munitions like cruise missiles will be launched.
