Just one week of entries from the FAA’s Domestic Events Network hotline offer new insights into reports of unidentified aerial phenomena.

The Federal Aviation Administration received pilot reports about a floating glowing white cylinder, a fast-flying white diamond-shaped object, a 25-foot-long black triangular drone, and someone zooming around using a jetpack in just one week in June 2021. This is according to logs from the U.S. Domestic Events Network, or DEN, that The War Zone recently obtained. Taken in all, the hundreds of 'DEN line' log entries provide a fascinating and somewhat unprecedented look into what a week of this network's activity actually looks like.

The entries also offer new insights into sightings of so-called unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP), more commonly known as unidentified flying objects, within U.S. national airspace, as well as how they are recorded, categorized, and investigated. Interest in the UAP topic has grown drastically on Capital Hill and new legislation, including that being put forward by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, aims, at least taken at face value, at releasing more information to the public on this historically stigmatized and long-tortured issue. These developments follow claims by defense intelligence officer-turned-UAP whistleblower David Grusch that not only does the U.S. government know far more than it is letting on about the UAP issue, but it actually has in its possession crashed craft of an otherworldly origin.

The FAA manages the DEN, but it acts as a central hotline for reporting aviation-related incidents within U.S. airspace that other parts of the U.S. government, such as the Department of Defense (DOD), the Department of Justice, and the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Transportation Security Administration (TSA), can also utilize. In addition to the unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) sightings, the logs from the week in June include entries describing drone encounters, the dangerous lasing of aircraft, warnings about space debris reentering the atmosphere, bomb threats, technical and medical emergencies, and more. When intercepts by Air Force alert fighters are made on unresponsive or potentially threatening aircraft in or around U.S. airspace, DEN line traffic usually facilitates these actions, with the Air Force's air defense sectors stepping in.

War Zone contributor Adam Kehoe obtained a copy of the logs, which cover events that occurred between 04:00 Zulu on June 7, 2021, and 03:59 Zulu on June 14, 2021, from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) via the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). A total of 1011 incidents were logged in the DEN in that period, according to what was released. Some of the entries are fully or partially redacted, citing exemptions to FOIA intended to protect sensitive details about law enforcement techniques and procedures and critical infrastructure, as well as personal information.

The full metadata released along with the June 2021 DEN logs. FAA via FOAI

Of the 1011 total incidents in the logs, three are specifically labeled as UAP reports. Metadata at the top of the released document says that there are 114 entities dealing with uncrewed aerial systems (UAS), though it's not clear if this also includes one of the UAP entries that is also labeled UAS.

A manual counting of the entries indicates that some of the drone incidents are among those that are fully redacted. Some, but not all, are also labeled as so-called Mandatory Occurrence Reports (MOR). The FAA regulations require the creation of MORs in various situations, including after a pilot reports “unauthorized UAS activity or authorized UAS activity that is conducted in an unsafe or hazardous manner.”

More on all this accounting later in the story.

Two of the labeled UAP entries very clearly fit that definition.

One of these concerns a reported sighting at 02:01 Zulu on June 9, 2021, of what is described as "a glowing white cylindrical object" by the crew of a Gulfstream IV business jet flying northeast from Van Nuys Airport in California to John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio. The jet was cruising at 45,000 feet and was around 29 nautical miles southwest of Grand Canyon Airport in Arizona at the time, according to the entry, which is reproduced in full below. This also means that the incident technically occurred late on June 8, local time.

FAA via FOIA

"The unknown phenomenon was paralleling the aircraft at the same speed approximately 3,000 feet above," according to the entry. "PIC [pilot in command] stated he was taking pictures and video of the object."

No further details about this incident or any follow-up investigation, if one even occurred, are provided. Marc Cecotti, another contributor to The War Zone, was able to obtain the MOR, including an accompanying map showing the estimated location of the object relative to the aircraft's flight path, for this specific incident, which is reproduced below. Sadly this does not provide any significant additional information. Despite the MOR confirming that the pilot said they were taking pictures and video, none were attached to the report.

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