Incident Description
On May 22, 2013, during a commercial flight to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), the pilot in command reported an unusual sighting. According to his account, as the aircraft crossed the horizon, he saw a glowing orb just above it.
The orb looked like a sphere surrounded by a halo or haze. Its light grew dimmer as the aircraft passed the orb’s lower-right edge. The glow along the orb’s edge remained steady, but the shape itself seemed to expand and then disappear into the air.
The pilot, who had 22 years of experience flying commercially, said he had never seen anything similar in his career. The crew managed to document the event with a photograph and a video, but both were low quality: the light is almost invisible in the photograph and cannot be made out in the video.
Context and Documentation
The report was entered into the National UFO Reporting Center (NUFORC) database under case number 97928. Although it comes from a professional source, a commercial pilot, it remains unverified because no clear visual evidence is available to confirm the sighting.
The reported orb is not associated with any known aircraft or ordinary meteorological phenomena, raising questions about possible sources of the light, such as ground-light displays, optical effects in the atmosphere, or even radar analyses linked to unusual objects.
Why Is This Interesting?
The report is compelling for several reasons. First, it comes from a professional crew with extensive experience and a thorough understanding of the airspace. Second, the description of an “orb with a halo” resembles accounts sometimes found in reports of unexplained phenomena, yet significant visual documentation is lacking. Finally, the event took place during a commercial flight, suggesting the sighting was not an incident involving astronomy enthusiasts or ground-based observers, but occurred amid air traffic aboard an aircraft equipped with advanced navigation and communications systems.
The report points to the importance of accurate documentation, including high-resolution files, when unidentified objects appear in the airspace. As technology improves, we may be able to obtain more precise records of similar phenomena in the future.
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Although the report was written professionally, it remains an unverified claim and is not proof that an extraterrestrial object exists.
