‘Long, cylindrical object’ that puzzled pilot flying over New Mexico remains a mystery

A strange “long cylindrical object” spotted over New Mexico on Sunday by an American Airlines pilot remains a mystery, officials say.

“Do you have any targets up here? We just had something go right over the top of us,” the pilot says in a 1:19 p.m. Central radio message captured by the Deep Black Horizon aviation blog.

“I hate to say this — looked like a long cylindrical object that almost looked like a cruise missile type of thing moving really fast. It went right over the top of us,” the pilot continues.

American Airlines confirmed the transmission was from Flight 2292, Forbes reported.

The flight, bound from Cincinnati to Phoenix, was over the northeast corner of New Mexico at the time, The Arizona Republic reported.

The Federal Aviation Administration said air traffic controllers “did not see any object in the area on their radarscopes,” NBC News reported.

The Department of Defense’s White Sands Missile Range in southern New Mexico conducted no tests Sunday, public affairs director Scott Stearns told The Arizona Republic.

“We never test in that area,” Stearns said. Other nearby military bases did not report any tests or flights at the time, according to the publication.