The Thunderbirds. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Frank Kovalchek The Thunderbirds. Image Credit: CC BY 2.0 Frank Kovalchek

Former US Air Force pilot recalls close encounter with 'shiny' object

Ryan Bodenheimer recently shared his own experiences with unknown objects while flying over the US.

Formerly a member of the elite Thunderbirds aerobatic team, Bodenheimer has certainly seen his fair share of unusual things in the sky.

His most notable close encounter occurred when he was returning home from a training exercise near the enigmatic Area 51 facility in Nevada.

While cruising at an altitude of around 30,000 feet, he witnessed a strange object suddenly streak past his aircraft traveling at a speed of over 400 knots.

He described the object as "silver, unpainted, shiny and reflective", while noting that it had been shaped like a triangle with pointed wing-like structures and a tail."It looked like a futuristic fighter jet - too advanced, almost machine-welded," he said.

This wasn't the only encounter reported by Bodenheimer either - on a separate flight at a similar altitude he also encountered a strange rectangular object in the sky.

Although he did report it to air traffic control, no radar confirmation of the object was ever forthcoming.

Exactly what these two objects could have been continues to remain a mystery.

You can check out a video in which Bodenheimer describes these encounters in more detail below.

REGISTER NOW

By T.K. Randall

T.K. Randall (also known as "Saru" on the UM forums) is the owner and editor of Unexplained-Mysteries.com.
He founded the site back in 2001, as well as an earlier, similarly themed site in the late 90s.
Having long held a keen interest in all things unexplained and mysterious, Randall has written and published thousands of news articles on the site over the last two decades and has also worked on numerous redesigns, site features and improvements during that time as well.
In 2022 he wrote and published a tie-in book - The Unexplained Mysteries Book of Weird News (available on Amazon) - which features a selection of some of the strangest stories covered by the site over the years.
Randall is online regularly and can be contacted either through the forums or via our contact page.

(Source: unexplained-mysteries.com; June 22, 2025; https://tinyurl.com/ywk8mx3r)
Back to INF

Loading please wait...