ASA Report ID: COM-2025-790: Collision with a "linear object" May 22, 2025

[FastIndy]

https://www.safeaerospace.org/reports/com-2025-790

I first became aware of this because of a post by user Kevin_ASA (presumably associated with ASA) on the r/UFOs sub on 2026-04-22.


Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/UFOs/comments/1ssvrx6/a_commercial_aircraft_struck_a_small_linear/

Submission statement:
Time: May 22, 2025 at 2257 UTC
Location: NOSID intersection (33°24'N, 069°75'W), New York Oceanic Airspace

New York ARINC issued an advisory on HF frequency 8846 kHz alerting traffic to the incident, which occurred in the vicinity of the NOSID intersection within New York Oceanic airspace. The advisory was broadcast to multiple flights including United, WestJet, and other carriers operating in the region.

Full report: https://www.safeaerospace.org/reports/com-2025-790

Location is listed as somewhere around the NOSID intersection, located roughly between North Carolina and Bermuda in the North Atlantic. According to the advisory, it seems like the collision was observed from another aircraft. The callsign of what I'll call the incident aircraft isn't listed, nor of the reporting aircraft.

Longer video here:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK9oYx5e1gA


And in the pinned comment of that video, the channel owner provides the ARINC archived audio. I've also attached those files, scanned, but download at your own risk. I listened to the 2230Z file for any prior mention of an incident, and heard nothing.
https://drive.proton.me/urls/6PNKJEKW20#CLyYL3kEoi6Z
https://drive.proton.me/urls/722GPKJ9BM#p4erKtcXMD8g

The ATC audio listed as HF-CAR-A-8846-NH-May-22-2025-2230Z has a mention of an impending advisory and a SIGMET as early as timestamp 22:32 in the file (22:52:32 UTC perhaps, I don't know if the file is named with the starting or ending time). Given that it appears to have taken almost 2 minutes for the advisory to get out to everyone once it already existed, I think the actual event was likely significantly sooner than the listed 2257UTC. We should probably be thinking about the 2245+ timeframe. I listened to the entire file but didn't hear anything else mentioned, other than the discussion about an impending advisory.

Plus there's a discrepancy between the NOSID location and the coordinates provided.
Plus ASA apparently has no issue with "069°75'W", and the video subtitles/transcription on the ASA incident page is very, very bad.

The task would be to identify the incident aircraft - if there was indeed an incident. I have to close down my browser workspace so I wanted to get as much here as possible, but more cleanup/discrepancies to come.

 

[FastIndy]

Further information on ARINC and the tones heard in the audio:

Source: https://www.reddit.com/r/flying/comments/1lryryh/comment/n1enhk6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

ARINC is third party radio operator that provides second hand radio services to ATC, as well as additional services to subscribers (more on that later).

When you fly over a remote area outside of VHF range, you have to communicate using HF. If you've never used an HF radio before, it has continuous static because it's very easily subject to magnetic interference, but those same properties are what allows it to be a useful long range radio because the earth's ionosphere forces the signal around the world. It propagates at much higher wavelengths (lower frequencies).

Because of this, ATC does not directly monitor HF radios because they'd just be listening to radio static for an eternity. Instead, third party radio operators relay voice communications on HF to air traffic control and back. "ARINC" specifically has San Francisco Radio and New York radio to run the pacific and Atlantic oceanic areas. In fact, any callsign that ends in "radio" instead of "center" or "control" is a clue that it's not ATC you're talking to, but a third party relay.

Now, as a pilot, you don't want to listen to radio static for hours either. So instead, your aircraft gets assigned a selective calling (SELCAL) code. It's a 4-letter code grouped in pairs (for example, KQ-AE). Each letter in the alphabet corresponds to an audio tone on a specific audio frequency. These tones are played over the radio in "pairs", just like it's grouped. So the sound for "KQ" plays first, then "AE" next. And your radio listens for those sounds. If both are a match, your aircraft alerts you that someone is trying to call you on that radio. It's a great way to maintain communication without having to monitor the radio frequency and listen to the radio static. ATC does not have the ability to send you a SELCAL. Only the third party radio operators, which is why they manage this stuff. It's the same technology used in the touch tone dial system on phones. Very simple stuff.

In addition to the above ATC services provided, ARINC and Stockholm Radio (and I imagine others too) also provide other local services, such as the ability to provide a phone patch over the radio, which you can do over VHF over land if you don't have a satellite phone onboard. You can also do HF phone patches over the ocean if need be with many radio operators, though these services aren't used nearly as often today as sat phones becomes more commonplace.

 

[flarkey]

The audio from the incident is on the ASA page, see attached.

the report also listed call signs of a number of aircraft that responded...

Multiple flights acknowledged the advisory, including United 3024, United 665, United 1820, United 1526, WestJet 2461, and Quebec Quebec Echo 208.

 

[Mendel]

According to the advisory, it seems like the collision was observed from another aircraft.

Yes. It's a nothingburger, and indicative of ASA's propensity to make mountains out of molehills.
"A flight reported a small linear object hit by another flight" and "I have no other information on this object or what was the result of it".

We know that no aircraft got lost over the Atlantic. So we'd expect that aircraft crew that had the encounter to have reported it when they arrived. But there is no indication that they ever did, or that it was unusual if they did, and they did not contact ATC which they would have if it had caused any problem.

The 'reporting flight' must have been at least 1000 ft above or below, or 2 miles away horizontally. You can imagine how well you can discern what actually happened at that distance.

A "solar bag", basically a 50ft long black garbage bag that attracts heat and floats, would fit the description.
See https://www.metabunk.org/threads/big-balloons-that-are-not-round.12577/post-276849 for pictures.

It is not established that the airspace was unsafe at any point.
(See https://www.metabunk.org/threads/un...d-windshield-weather-balloon-collision.14502/ for an actual collision with a small sandbag at 36,000 feet.)

 

[jdog]

Yes. It's a nothingburger, and indicative of ASA's propensity to make mountains out of molehills.
"A flight reported a small linear object hit by another flight" and "I have no other information on this object or what was the result of it".

We know that no aircraft got lost over the Atlantic. So we'd expect that aircraft crew that had the encounter to have reported it when they arrived. But there is no indication that they ever did, or that it was unusual if they did, and they did not contact ATC which they would have if it had caused any problem.

The 'reporting flight' must have been at least 1000 ft above or below, or 2 miles away horizontally. You can imagine how well you can discern what actually happened at that distance.

A "solar bag", basically a 50ft long black garbage bag that attracts heat and floats, would fit the description.
See https://www.metabunk.org/threads/big-balloons-that-are-not-round.12577/post-276849 for pictures.

It is not established that the airspace was unsafe at any point.
(See https://www.metabunk.org/threads/un...d-windshield-weather-balloon-collision.14502/ for an actual collision with a small sandbag at 36,000 feet.)

The description is vague enough that it could just as well be one pair of pilots seeing a Starlink train pass behind another aircraft, which might also explain the "additional activity reported somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 feet above that altitude" as being satellites in the flare zone. (Though 2257 UTC sounds a little early for May in the North Atlantic.)

And, indeed, there was a SpaceX launch the day before: https://www.space.com/space-explora...-brand-new-falcon-9-rocket-after-abort-photos.