Solved: MUFON Case 105762 - White Cigar "Following" Plane near Zion Nation Park (United 541)

[Mick West]

A pilot looking down and to the left from 40,000 feet saw this white cigar-shaped object seemingly following him, and took a video with his phone.

Video recording is taken from cockpit at 40000 ft of an object flying at a lower altitude over the terrain. Not sure what it is.
in the vicinity of Zion N, UT, US

Lucklily the original file was uploaded to the MUFON database, and it had both a timestamp, and GPS location!

File Modification Date/Time     : 2020:01:29 08:00:51-08:00
GPS Coordinates                 : 37 deg 13' 2.64" N, 113 deg 3' 31.68" W

With this it was a relatively simple matter to find both the plane, and the white object, which of course turned out to be another plane.

So the photographer's plane was a private jet at 40,000 feet. The white object is United 541, a 737 at 25,800 feet, descending towards Las Vegas.

 

[Getoffthisplanet]

Very cool!

I guess it's not much of a surprise that there's not much indication of wings or a tail.


Source: https://youtu.be/jgAHzDeLRLo


From over on ATS the pilot estimated it was 15-20 nautical miles away.

So, actually how far was the 737 from the Samsung S9 camera then?

 

[Mick West]

From over on ATS the pilot estimated it was 15-20 nautical miles away.

So, actually how far was the 737 from the Samsung S9 camera then?

8 miles away, about 2.7 miles (14,200 feet) down (so about 8.5 miles line of sight)

 

[Getoffthisplanet]

8 miles away, about 2.8 miles down (so about 8.5 miles line of sight)

Thanks.

I'm completely ignorant about aviation, but, wouldn't the pilot photographer have been aware of, or able to inquire about, exactly what jet he was looking at?

 

[Mick West]

I'm completely ignorant about aviation, but, wouldn't the pilot photographer have been aware of, or able to inquire about, exactly what jet he was looking at?

ATC isn't really going to care about a plane that's 8 miles away, flying roughly parallel, and 15,000 feet lower. It's "no factor", as they say. He probably thought it was much closer, so if he asked, he would get told there was nothing there.

 

[Mick West]

I put the camera roughtly in the private jet's position in Google Earth and imported the UAL541 flight track:

The terrain matches the video:

 

[SR1419]

I am surprised this is even a thing. At first glance I thought it was a plane. You can see the tail in the first picture.

 

[Mick West]

I am surprised this is even a thing. At first glance I thought it was a plane. You can see the tail in the first picture.

Yeah, me too. It was just fun because I got the GPS coordinates and time from the file, which apparently MUFON had overlooked.

It's also interesting that "a professional pilot" apparently thought it was a UFO.

 

[Getoffthisplanet]

I am surprised this is even a thing.

Even with just a quick glance of the UFO websites and forums, I think people have Navy Tic-Tac on the brain.

 

[TBayUAP]

Mick, it was great getting to work with you today on this.
I knew we would figure it out.
JC.