On December 17, 2022, a Cessna 172 pilot approaching Tucson, Arizona, reported an unusual airborne object to air traffic controllers. Now, following a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed by The Black Vault, the FAA has released official documents and audio transcripts detailing the encounter.
The FOIA case, filed January 19, 2023, was prompted by a comment on Reddit in response to a Black Vault posting about pilot sightings. A user referenced a recording of air traffic control communications and mentioned a pilot describing a strange red and silver object. That tip led directly to the FOIA request, which the FAA confirmed in a February 28, 2023 disclosure letter responding to “records pertaining to the Red and Silver Ironman Unmanned Aircraft Systems on December 17, 2022, near Tucson, Arizona”.
The Encounter
The official FAA Mandatory Occurrence Report (MOR) states that Cessna N21272 “reported a red and silver drone at 80 at the TUS091006 moving east bound. N21272 advised drone looked like Iron Man. Possibly a balloon. No other sightings of drone”.
A Quality Assurance review further noted that “while descending through 8,400 feet, N21272 reported passing a silver and red drone that was off of their left side and slightly below them. No evasive action was reported”.
Air Traffic Control Audio
The released air traffic control audio provides a clearer picture of what the pilot described in real time. At 12:06 p.m. local time, the pilot transmitted:
“There was something strange that just flew by off the left side. It looks like some type of drone, but it was like red and silver. I couldn’t really tell the altitude, just a little bit below me”.
Controllers later followed up to clarify the report:
“And the drone, you said at 8,000 feet?”
The pilot responded:
“It was a little bit below me, I was at 8,000, and it wasn’t like a normal looking drone. It looked more vertical than like the quadcopter type and it was silver and red”.
When asked again to describe the object, the pilot elaborated:
“Yeah, it was silver and red. It almost reminded me of, like, an Iron Man suit, although not exactly like that, but like a silvery red color. It was pretty weird”.
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Document Archive
FOIA Case 2023-03232 Release Package [5 Pages, 0.5MB]
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