We got new insight into what happened over Lake Huron almost two weeks ago as audio from the cockpit of the F-22 Raptor that shot the unidentified object out of the sky was released Wednesday.
Hearing what the pilot encountered was pretty wild, and the pilot seemed to think so too.
At first, they had trouble finding it, and then once they did, they seemed a little baffled at what the object looked like and how it moved, but ultimately we might not know what the object really was.
The audio from inside the fighter jets tasked with shooting down a suspected balloon over Lake Huron earlier this month was uploaded online and authenticated by the Air Force for Local 4.
The pilots were still searching for the object’s exact location, but with a cruising speed of nearly 600 miles per hour, the object was so small that it was hard to see.
“The only thing is the size of it,” said one pilot. “It’s going so slow, and it’s so small you can’t see it because it’s so close. I’d honestly be worried about hitting it before you even knew it was there.”
And then they saw it.
“There was just some kind of dark object,” the pilot said. “You can see some strings or something hanging down below it. I can’t tell if it’s holding anything. It’s almost like an octagonal shape. I’m going to call it a balloon. There are strings hanging down below it. But I don’t see anything below it. It’s pretty small. I’m going to say it’s like the size of like a 4-wheeler or something.”
Read: Michigan officials addressing theories of unidentified airborne object shot down over Lake Huron
The pilots had to make several runs, but eventually, they shot it down.
“We see it,” said the pilot. “It’s a hit.”
The hit came on the second sidewinder missile fired. The first one according to the Pentagon, missed the balloon. The heat-seeking, supersonic high explosive missiles cost the Air Force about $470,000 each time they’re fired.
The search for the wreckage was eventually called off after the Canadian search came up empty-handed.
The Air Force also confirmed that the jets were out of a unit from Duluth, Minnesota, about 500 miles from Lake Huron.