Yo! UFO at JFK

Local law enforcement and the US FAA remain baffled as to who or what flew briefly into the busy final approach path of jets landing at New York's John F. Kennedy International airport about 2000h Sunday night, disrupting operations.

The mystery began when a Delta Airlines pilot (DAL164), waiting on Taxiway C (Charlie) in the usual conga line to depart on Runway 22R (right) called the air traffic control (ATC) tower with an odd request...

 

DAL164: "Hey, do you see something over the... looks like a guy on a paraglider.. almost over the approach, er, the threshold of two-two right?"

The controller, after alerting amuzed pilots arriving on the 22R's parallel runway, 22L (left) to look out for a "kite", called in local police helicopters to have a look.

The Delta pilot gave a running dialogue of the action, according to the ATC tapes, captured by LiveATC.net. 

"Looks like he hit the ground, dropped something off. Now he's airborne again," he says, adding, "I guess is it ah, looks like some guy on a parachute."

The touch and go location, according to the pilot, was near the Varig cargo building, on the northern border of the airport, adjacent to the approach paths for 22R and 22L.The "kite" then departed the airport, apparently climbing higher than 1,000ft on a potential collision course with arriving traffic. 

Despite air, land and sea searches, police found no trace of the UFO

FAA spokesman Jim Peters tells ATCF (As the Croft flies) that an American 767 performed a go-around while descending through 400ft on the approach in this timeframe, but the FAA was not able to link maneuver directly to the intruder, at least as of 21 August..

Below is a YouTube clip of the audio transmissions with ATC.