Right Under My Wing: US Air Force Pilot Claims UFO Sighted At 20,000 Feet

A Chilling Encounter Above California Skies

An experienced US Air Force pilot had an eerie brush with the unknown during a classified flight over California last September. While soaring through controlled airspace at 20,000 feet, he witnessed an unidentified flying object (UFO) moving dangerously close beneath his wing. The object was described as dark grey, cylindrical, and no bigger than a football, defying conventional explanations for aircraft at that altitude.

This gripping encounter, captured in newly leaked audio, has reignited debates about unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs). “This is going to sound weird,” the pilot, known by his call sign “Troy 21,” radioed to air traffic control in Los Angeles at 2:30 PM on September 17.

“But I just had something pass underneath my wing. Maybe a football-sized object right under my wing,” he reported, clearly puzzled by the sighting.

Unveiling the Mystery: A Classified Mission and an Unexplained Object

According to reports from The New York Post, the pilot was on a classified mission tied to the Department of Homeland Security at the time of the incident. The exact nature of his assignment remains undisclosed, adding further intrigue to the event.

With clear skies and optimal visibility, the pilot was able to observe the object’s movement with precision. It exhibited no signs of propulsion—no wings, no visible exhaust, no rotors—yet it maneuvered through the air effortlessly.

The air traffic controller, trying to make sense of the situation, asked whether the object could have been a drone. However, given the altitude of 20,000 feet, drones of such small size are extremely rare.

“I’ve got my sensor operator looking for it on the camera right now, we’ll see if we can find it,” Troy 21 responded, actively scanning for any signs of the anomaly.

He further emphasized just how close the encounter was: “It was like a dark grey, cylindrical object, and it was probably the size of a football. It passed maybe 10 feet under our right wing.”

A High-Speed Disappearance That Defied Physics

Less than a minute after the first sighting, the pilot’s onboard radar detected an object at a distance. Within 40 seconds, it reappeared—but shockingly, it was now 60 miles away. If it was indeed the same object, it would have had to travel at speeds exceeding Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) to cover such a distance in such a short span.

This phenomenon has baffled aviation experts and UFO researchers alike. Conventional aircraft, especially those lacking any obvious propulsion system, should not be capable of such maneuvers.

In the leaked recording, another air traffic controller can later be heard acknowledging the report: “There was a UFO reported here, but that’s all taken care of now.”

This statement only adds to the growing suspicion that such encounters are swiftly documented but rarely given the public scrutiny they deserve.

Documenting the Encounter: Another Case in the UAP Archives

The unusual sighting was officially logged with the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC), adding yet another case to the growing list of unexplained aerial encounters. In recent years, the U.S. government has taken a more open stance on investigating UAPs, even forming dedicated research teams within the Pentagon to analyze reports from military pilots.

Interestingly, this event bears striking similarities to a report from former NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao. In the summer of 2023, Chiao was flying his personal aircraft over the Texas Panhandle when he encountered two metallic, cylindrical objects. They exhibited no propulsion and appeared out of nowhere, passing just ten feet beneath his wings—eerily similar to Troy 21’s experience.

“There was nothing around me other than the panhandle of Texas at nine-thousand feet on this instrument flight plane, and just suddenly these things appeared,” Chiao recalled.

He described them as smooth, featureless orbs that moved with unnatural precision. The resemblance between Chiao’s sighting and Troy 21’s experience suggests a pattern in these encounters that cannot be ignored.

Government Response and the Growing UFO Discussion

Over the past decade, the U.S. government has been forced to acknowledge the increasing number of UAP sightings reported by military personnel. In 2021, the Pentagon released a declassified report confirming that several documented encounters with UAPs remain unexplained. In 2023, NASA held its first public meeting on UAPs, further cementing the legitimacy of these reports.

The Department of Defense’s All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) has since been tasked with investigating these incidents. However, many experts believe that crucial information is still being withheld from the public.

Luis Elizondo, former director of the Pentagon’s Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP), has repeatedly stated that some UAPs exhibit characteristics beyond current human technology.

“These objects move in ways that defy known physics,” Elizondo said in an interview. “They accelerate at speeds that would crush any human pilot and execute maneuvers that no known aircraft can replicate.”

Possible Explanations: Advanced Technology or Something More?

While skeptics argue that many UAP sightings can be attributed to misidentified drones, balloons, or experimental military technology, Troy 21’s report raises questions that are difficult to answer.

If the object was an experimental drone, why was it flying at such a high altitude and at such incredible speeds? If it belonged to a foreign military, how did it evade radar detection and display such unconventional flight patterns?

There is also the possibility that this was a classified U.S. project unknown even to experienced Air Force personnel. However, most advanced military aircraft leave some signature of propulsion—something entirely absent in this case.

Finally, for those who lean toward extraterrestrial theories, this encounter adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that Earth’s airspace may be regularly visited by unknown intelligences. The repeated sightings of cylindrical, featureless objects suggest a common design—one that is not seen in conventional aerospace engineering.

What Comes Next?

With the growing body of military UFO encounters, there is increasing pressure on the U.S. government to be more transparent about what they know. Congressional hearings on UAPs have led to demands for declassification of key reports, but progress remains slow.

As for Troy 21, his account will likely join the many unexplained cases that continue to puzzle both government agencies and independent researchers. Whether the object was an unknown drone, an advanced military craft, or something beyond human technology, one fact remains: unexplained aerial phenomena are no longer just the subject of science fiction—they are a real and growing concern.

The skies above us hold mysteries that we are only beginning to understand. And for pilots like Troy 21, the truth isn’t just out there—it’s right under their wing.