FORM 112 - MADAR SIGHTING INFORMATION REPORT
 


NE OF NEW MEXICO   -   FEB 21, 2021


I.   DESCRIPTION OF INCIDENT

February 21, 2021; Northeast corner of New Mexico west of Clayton.
Approx. 1:19 pm CST. Pilots of an American Airlines jet Flight 2292 flying over New Mexico reported (actual transmission on file) they saw something fly directly over them that they could not explain. The strange encounter happened over the northeast corner of New Mexico west of Clayton, New Mexico as the jet was cruising at 36,000 feet traveling SW at 460 mph. The unidentified flying object sighting was documented by the pilots when they radioed the Albuquerque Center. The pilot reported: “Do you have any targets up here?” the pilot asked. “We just had something go right over the top of us – I hate to say this but it looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing – moving really fast right over the top of us.” Nine minutes prior to the encounter a Learjet lj60 heading SE passed in front of the airbus 320 AA2292 heading SW. The Lear can be seen in my loop at the top of the radar screen at FL410 (41,000) and AA2292 coming onscreen on the right at FL360 (36,000'), the Lear being 5,000' higher. Lear is traveling SE at 500 mph; the AA2292  heading SW at 387 mph.  AA2292 had plenty of time to see the Lear and never considered this a near miss. Albuquerque knew they were there and had them vertically spaced 5,000' and I was able  show the horizontal separation was about 3 km at closest approach. At 1:19 when the real UAP event took place ARTC did not have anything on radar. AA2292 travelled 54 miles in those 9 minutes. (Fran Ridge)

II.   MADAR DATA

There were no sites in New Mexico or in the states NE of the encounter location that had a MADAR site at that time.

III.  STATUS OF INVESTIGATION

William Puckett and Robert Powell both filed FOIA requests, as did others, and to this date all FOIA requests have expired with zero results.

IV.   CONCLUSIONS

I was able to create a number of FR24 loops. The loops show the Learjet lj60 passing the airbus 320 AA2292 with the Lear at the top of the radar screen at FL410 (41,000) and AA2292 coming onscreen on the right at FL360 (36,000'), the Lear being 5,000' higher. Lear is traveling SE at 500 mph; the AA2292  heading SW at 387 mph.  AA2292 had plenty of time to see the Lear. Albuquerque knew they were there and had them vertically spaced 5,000' and I show the horizontal separation was about 3 km at closest approach. If the flight had contacted Abuquerque at the time of the Lear encounter at 1:10 pm, ARTC would have confirmed what we already know and can see on the loop. No mystery. At 1:19 when the real UAP event took place ARTC did not have anything on radar. AA2292 travelled 54 miles in those 9 minutes. We can eliminate the Learjet for several reasons, including the fact that AA2292 was equipped with a Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS). This can detect aircraft up to 40 mile range and at altitude differences of 10,000 feet. They detect the transponders from other aircraft. If the aircraft transponder on the Lear was off, then the TCAS wouldn't have detected it. We know that lj60's transponder was on because it showed up on their radar. It was obvious on our FR24 radar here as well and in all of our recorded loops. The pilot would have seen the Lear on the TCAS. And again, we have shown that there was no near miss with the Learjet. Not only that, but my model shows the Lear was in view for a much longer period and no closer than 3 km in horizontal separation. The pilot's description of a "long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing - moving really fast right over the top of us" appears to have been valid. and no near miss was filed cercerning a Learjet 9 minutes before.

Fran Ridge
MADAR OPERATIONS DIRECTOR