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HOME/CASES/DUFO-024 · CHICAGO O'HARE GATE C-17
FILE OPENEDTIER A · CLASS — DECLASSIFIED
DUFO-024 · DOSSIER · 2026 EDITION
FILE DUFO-024·FIELD REPORT·USA·FILED 11.07.2006·UPDATED 05.06.2026
CASE FILE

CHICAGO.

Chicago · USA · Multiple United Airlines pilots, mechanics and ramp workers watched a metallic disc hover over Gate C-17 before punching a hole through the cloud deck and vanishing.
declassifiedtier · AFILE COPY · 24 / 64
archive · sighting · 2006
EXHIBIT A · 01 / 05
“primary witness on record” — Multiple United Airlines mechanics, pilots and ramp workers
DEBRIS
PRESS
MAP
WITNESSES
GOV DOCS
MEDIA
// SUMMARY · BY THE DESK

Around 4:15 p.m.

After several minutes, the object accelerated vertically through the cloud layer with sufficient force to leave a clearly defined circular hole — described by witnesses as appearing to punch through the clouds and remaining visible for several minutes after the object's departure. Photographs of the alleged hole have not been independently verified, but the visual phenomenon was reported consistently by multiple ramp employees.

The FAA initially denied any awareness of the event. After the Chicago Tribune's Jon Hilkevitch obtained a recording of a United supervisor's call to the FAA's air traffic control tower, the agency acknowledged the call but classified the incident as a "weather phenomenon" — most likely a hole-punch cloud — and declined further investigation. United Airlines initially denied that any of its employees had reported a UFO, then later acknowledged the calls.

The O'Hare case is significant for the credentialing of its witnesses (commercial pilots, certified mechanics, and ramp staff with safety responsibilities), its location at one of the busiest airports in the world, and the documented refusal of both United Airlines and the FAA to investigate further. The Tribune's reporting marked one of the first major mainstream US newspaper treatments of a UFO event in many years.

// CHRONOLOGY · KEY EVENTS
Nov 7 2006
Incident reported · primary record
2007
First independent investigation
2023
Senate UAP testimony reopens record
May 2026
Spielberg release · disclosure cycle
// WITNESSES · 1 ON RECORD
portrait
Multiple United Airlines mechanics, pilots and ramp workers
ON RECORD
▸ AFFIDAVIT →
// PRIMARY DOCUMENTS
Chicago Tribune — Jon Hilkevitch reporting (January 2007)▸ ARCHIVE
NARCAP Aviation Safety Report (2007)▸ ARCHIVE
FAA ATC recording — November 7 2006▸ ARCHIVE
Leslie Kean — UFOs: Generals, Pilots, and Government Officials Go on the Record (2010)▸ ARCHIVE
FILE DUFO-024 · CHICAGO O'HARE GATE C-17 · DECLASSIFIED EDITION 2026PG 01 / 04
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