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UAP / Balloon Incident
Single-Record File

FAA Report 237UAP00152: Balloon Sighting near McCook

Single-Record File: Only one inspectable record is attached. It documents a source or allegation but cannot independently corroborate the broader claim.
OverviewEvidenceTimelineAnalysisSources
2023-02-03
25 NM Southwest of McCook, Nebraska, USA
9/10
2/10
A pilot reported a balloon at 37,000 feet with an object hanging from the bottom.
low

Investigative Assessments

"The reported claim remains worth testing against the record: A pilot reported a balloon at 37,000 feet with an object hanging from the bottom. The strongest documented reasons to keep the file open are: FAA SKYWATCH Incident Form 237UAP00152: Documents a pilot report of A pilot reported a balloon at 37,000 feet with an object hanging from the bottom.. Key unresolved lead: What was the nature of the object hanging from the bottom of the balloon?"
"Evidentiary limitations: low Note that: FAA SKYWATCH Incident Form 237UAP00152 fails to support: The operational log does not contain physical telemetry, radar recordings, or photos to independently verify the nature of the object.."

Case Summary

An intake summary of FAA operational log 237UAP00152 recording an aircrew reporting an unidentified aerial phenomenon. A pilot reported a balloon at 37,000 feet with an object hanging from the bottom. This pilot synopsis is an intake summary requiring source-by-source verification.

Evidence Locker

1 inspectable evidence item. Claims and source findings are kept separate.

FAA incident report Local copy hash-verified

FAA SKYWATCH Incident Form 237UAP00152

Analyst rating: Primary operational record of an aircrew report and the FAA's contemporaneous assessment.

“Aircraft reported an unidentified aerial phenomenon (Balloon) at 12 o'clock and 20NM, while SE bound at FL370. Location MCM230025. PIC reported something hanging from bottom.”
Record locationPage 1
Evidence classFAA operational incident record
Relationship to claimPrimary document recording the pilot's intake report.
Authenticity assessmentHigh for document authenticity. The one-page FAA form was visually checked against the NARA PDF.
What this supportsDocuments a pilot report of A pilot reported a balloon at 37,000 feet with an object hanging from the bottom.
What it does not supportThe operational log does not contain physical telemetry, radar recordings, or photos to independently verify the nature of the object.
ProvenanceOfficial NARA UAP bulk-download record, hash-registered in the Casebook manifest and served from the read-only VPS corpus mount.
Chain of custodyAircrew report -> FAA SKYWATCH incident form -> FAA transfer to NARA Record Group 615 -> NARA bulk archive -> Casebook.
Open Document (Local PDF Document) Download Copy Canonical Agency Record

Documented Timeline

Not documented: No source-verified chronology has been assembled.

Named Participants and Roles

Not documented: Named participants and roles have not been source-verified.

Contradictions and Record Conflicts

Not documented: Record conflicts have not been analyzed.

Conventional Explanations

Not documented: Conventional explanations have not been evaluated against evidence.

Missing Evidence

Not documented: The evidence gap itself has not yet been fully inventory.

What Remains Unresolved

Not documented: No source-level unresolved findings have been established.

Investigative Hypotheses

  • A weather balloon with a standard radiosonde payload.
  • A surveillance balloon with an instrument package.
  • An amateur radio high-altitude balloon.

Open Questions

  • What was the nature of the object hanging from the bottom of the balloon?
  • Did military tracking systems monitor the trajectory of the balloon?
  • Was this part of the larger high-altitude balloon wave in early 2023?

Archival Landing Pages and Evidence Corpus

NARA Record Group 615, FAA UAP Records

Official Bulk Archive

External URL: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/493468575