A type of unidentified aerial phenomenon distinctly shaped like two saucers sealed together with both bottoms facing outward. The term was first minted in the press after the
June 1947 incident in which pilot Kenneth Arnold saw nine such aircraft flying in triangle formation and performing aerial maneuvers that
broke the known laws of physics. Two weeks later, at least one other similar craft was reported by the Roswell Daily Record to have crashed near Roswell, New Mexico. The ensuing
Air Force cover-up of the incident and
legend that grew up around it catapulted the term into popular culture and cemented it as a central topic of extraterrestrial and paranormal studies.
Flying saucers are frequently reported as the vehicles used by small
gray aliens during alien abductions of human beings.