High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Kenneth A. Arnold (March 29, 1915 in Sebeka, Minnesota January 16, 1984 in Bellevue, Washington) was an American businessman and pilot. He is best-known for making what is generally considered the first widely reported unidentified flying object sighting in the United States, after claiming to see nine unusual objects flying in a chain near Mount Rainier, Washington on June 24, 1947.