Piper Arrow Pilot Reported ’30-foot tall’ Triangular Object At 6,500 Feet

Around noon on Wednesday, Dec. 20, the pilot of a Piper Arrow told air traffic controllers he saw an object, “approximately 30 feet tall,” passing in the opposite direction apparently under power, headed westwardly. The Arrow was on a 150-nautical-mile return flight from Allegheny County Airport (KAGC) near Pittsburgh on an east-southeast heading to its home base at Frederick Municipal Airport (KFDK) in Maryland and was about 50 miles from its destination at the time.

A recording of the conversation with controllers is available on the “You can see ATC” YouTube channel. According to data posted on FlightAware, the Arrow’s cruise altitude was 7,000 feet. The pilot reported the object’s altitude as 6,500 to 6,800 feet. When the Potomac Approach controller asked if it was moving “at a fast pace,” the pilot replied, “It was moving away … affirmative.” The pilot also told the controller he had taken a picture of the object.

Asked what the object looked like, the pilot said, “It’s kind of hard to describe it. It was tall and pointy. It was the shape of a triangle; [unintelligible] at the bottom and flat on top … not sure what it is.” The controller asked the pilot to call the Center after landing to discuss the sighting further.

Some commenters on the YouTube post pointed out that the sighting occurred roughly 30 miles west of the Camp David prohibited area P40. President Biden had traveled to Milwaukee on the morning of the noontime incident and was not at Camp David, though he later returned to the presidential retreat for the Christmas holiday.

The operator of the Arrow told AVweb it was being flown by a rental customer who declined to comment further.