In 1947, Kenneth Arnold, business man & private pilot, was flying his own jet around the Mount Rainer area, looking for a downed plane with
32 men on-board. As he was flying toward the Mount, a glint of
light caught his eye. Arnold reported later that he
saw 9 peculiar looking aircraft flying at tremendous speeds around his plane. Later on he reported to a newspaper that the objects flew, "
like a saucer would if you skipped it across the water". The news reported grabbed at the phrase and dubbed the first sightings of UFOs as "flying saucers".