Federal Aviation Administration records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request have revealed details of an unusual aerial encounter involving a business jet over Northern Nevada in May 2025. The newly released documents include air traffic control audio recordings and internal FAA logs documenting the incident, though crucial radar data was withheld from the public release.
According to the FAA records, the pilot of the business jet reported an unidentified object that appeared to be pacing their aircraft during flight. The encounter occurred in Northern Nevada airspace, with air traffic control communications capturing real-time exchanges between the pilot and ground controllers as the unusual sighting unfolded.
The Black Vault, a repository for declassified government documents, obtained the records through FOIA procedures. However, the release was incomplete, with radar information that could have provided objective verification of the encounter being excluded from the documents provided to researchers.
This incident adds to a growing collection of officially documented encounters between commercial and private aircraft and unidentified aerial phenomena. The FAA's documentation of pilot reports has become increasingly important as government agencies show greater transparency regarding unexplained aerial encounters in recent years.