We were descending to land at Philadelphia International Airport. The sky was clear and the sun was shinning. Our work load was increasing as we prepared the airplane for the landing phase while trying to keep an eye open for air traffic at the lower levels. We were looking straight ahead when we saw a speck which instantly grew a thousand fold. We appeared to have an incredibly fast closure rate on this metal like object. There was not even time to say some of those infamous last words.

It is amazing how fast your eyes can see a situation, have your mind process it and to conclude that you are going to die. The space between us and the object was closing at a rate that made it impossible to even move the controls in an attempt to out maneuver it. We were left to chance.

Now I am sure somewhere in Philadelphia there was a child who was disappointed and maybe cried when their bright shiny mylar balloon got away from them and floated into the clear blue sky. However, it was no where near the level of terror we felt when it suddenly appeared in front of us and we thought "we are dead."