Project 10073 Record Card and Staff Message — Hutchinson, Kansas, 12 February 1962

On February 12, 1962, at approximately 0419 Central Time, a sighting of an unidentified aerial object was reported by three distinct sources: personnel at the Hutchinson, Kansas tower, an American Airlines flight (Flight 61), and a Central Airlines flight (Flight 59). The object was described as a yellowish-white streak of light with a yellowish-white tail. Witnesses reported that the object made no sound and traveled in a flat trajectory from west to east. The estimated speed was between 800 and 1000 miles per hour, and it appeared to be 3000 to 4000 feet above the horizon. The duration of the sighting was between 5 and 10 seconds before the object faded out. At the time of the sighting, the Central Airlines plane was located 8 miles north of Hutchinson, while the American Airlines flight was 30 miles north of Oklahoma City at an altitude of 31,000 feet, reporting the object to their south and above their position. The incident was formally documented on a Project 10073 record card and reported via a staff message from the 328th Fighter Wing at Richard Gebaur AFB to the Air Technical Intelligence Center at Wright-Patterson AFB. The official conclusion reached by the Air Force was that the object was an astronomical meteor, citing the duration and flight characteristics as the primary evidence for this determination.