Phoenix Lights
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The Phoenix Lights (sometimes called the "Lights Over Phoenix") were a series of widely sighted
unidentified flying objects An unidentified flying object (UFO) is an object or phenomenon seen in the sky but not yet identified or explained. The term was coined when United States Air Force (USAF) investigations into flying saucers found too broad a range of shape ...
observed in the skies over the southwestern
U.S. states In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
and
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...
on March 13, 1997. Lights of varying descriptions were seen between 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm MST, in a space of about 300 miles (480 km), from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
. Some witnesses described seeing what appeared to be a huge carpenter's square-shaped UFO containing five spherical lights. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area. Both sightings were due to aircraft participating in Operation Snowbird, a pilot training program operated in winter by the Air National Guard out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. The first light group was later identified as a formation of
A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twinjet, twin-turbofan, straight wing, straight-wing, Subsonic aircraft, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Republic ...
aircraft flying over Phoenix while returning to Davis-Monthan. The second group of lights were identified by Robert Sheaffer as illumination
flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...
s dropped by another flight of A-10 aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona. Fife Symington, governor of Arizona at the time, years later recounted witnessing the incident, describing it as "otherworldly." Reports of similar lights arose in 2007 and 2008 and were attributed to military flares dropped by
fighter aircraft Fighter aircraft (early on also ''pursuit aircraft'') are military aircraft designed primarily for air-to-air combat. In military conflict, the role of fighter aircraft is to establish air supremacy, air superiority of the battlespace. Domina ...
at Luke Air Force Base, and flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian, respectively.


1997 reports

On March 13, 1997, at 7:55 pm MST, a witness in
Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous city in Nevada, after Las Vegas, with 317,610 residents. The city is part of the Las Vegas V ...
, reported seeing a large, V-shaped object traveling southeast. At 8:15 pm, an unidentified former police officer in
Paulden, Arizona Paulden is a census designated place (CDP) in Yavapai County, Arizona, Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. The population was 5,231 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the ...
, reported seeing a cluster of reddish-orange lights disappear over the southern horizon. Shortly afterward, there were reports of lights seen over the
Prescott Valley, Arizona Prescott Valley is a town located in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States, approximately east of Prescott, Arizona, Prescott. According to the 2020 United States census, Prescott Valley has a population of 46,785 residents. History Presc ...
. Tim Ley and his wife Bobbi, his son Hal and his grandson Damien Turnidge first saw the lights when they were about away from them. At first, the lights appeared to them as five separate and distinct lights in an arc shape, as if they were on top of a balloon, but they soon realized that the lights appeared to be moving towards them. Over the next ten or so minutes, the lights appeared to come closer, the distance between the lights increased, and they took on the shape of an upside-down V. Eventually when the lights appeared to be a couple of miles away, the family said they could make out a shape that looked like a 60-degree carpenter's square, with the five lights set into it, with one at the front and two on each side. Soon, the object with the embedded lights appeared to be moving toward them, about above them, traveling so slowly that it gave the appearance of a silent hovering object, which seemed to pass over their heads and went through a V opening in the peaks of the mountain range towards Piestewa Peak Mountain and toward the direction of
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport is a civil-military public international airport east of downtown Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States. It is Arizona's largest and busiest airport; among the largest commercial airports ...
. Actor
Kurt Russell Kurt Vogel Russell (born March 17, 1951) is an American actor. He began his career as a child actor before transitioning to leading roles as an adult in various genres such as action adventures, science-fiction, westerns, romance films, co ...
, an amateur pilot, then reported seeing the lights to air traffic control. Between 8:30 and 8:45 pm, witnesses in Glendale, a suburb northwest of Phoenix, saw the light formation pass overhead at an altitude high enough to become obscured by the thin clouds. Amateur astronomer Mitch Stanley in
Scottsdale, Arizona Scottsdale is a city in eastern Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, and is part of the Phoenix metropolitan area. Named Scottsdale in 1894 after its founder Winfield Scott (chaplain), Winfield Scott, a retired Chaplain Corps (United States ...
, also observed the high altitude lights "flying in formation" through a telescope. According to Stanley, they were quite clearly individual airplanes. At approximately 10:00 that same evening, a large number of people in the Phoenix area reported seeing "a row of brilliant lights hovering in the sky, or slowly falling". A number of photographs and videos were taken, prompting author Robert Sheaffer to describe it as "perhaps the most widely witnessed UFO event in history".


Explanations

According to Sheaffer, what became known as "the Phoenix Lights" incident of 1997 "consists of two unrelated incidents, although both were the result of activities of the same organization: Operation Snowbird, a pilot training program operated in the winter by the
Air National Guard The Air National Guard (ANG), also known as the Air Guard, is a Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces, federal military reserve force of the United States Air Force, as well as the air militia (United States), militia of each U.S. ...
, out of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in
Tucson, Arizona Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
." Tucson astronomer and retired Air Force pilot James McGaha said he also investigated the two separate sightings and traced them both to
A-10 Thunderbolt II The Fairchild Republic A-10 , also infamously known under the nickname , is a single-seat, twinjet, twin-turbofan, straight wing, straight-wing, Subsonic aircraft, subsonic attack aircraft developed by Fairchild Aircraft, Fairchild Republic ...
aircraft flying in formation at high altitude. The first incident, often perceived as a large “flying triangle” by witnesses, began at approximately 8:00 pm, and was due to five A-10 jets from Operation Snowbird following an assigned air traffic corridor and flying under
visual flight rules In aviation, visual flight rules (VFR) is a set of regulations under which a pilot operates an aircraft in weather conditions generally clear enough to allow the pilot to see where the aircraft is going. Specifically, the weather must be better tha ...
.
Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is a Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government agency within the United States Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Transportation that regulates civil aviation in t ...
(FAA) rules concerning private and commercial aircraft do not apply to military aircraft, so the A-10 formation displayed steady formation lights rather than blinking collision lights. The formation flew over Phoenix and on to Tucson, landing at Davis-Monthan AFB about 8:45 pm. The second incident, described as "a row of brilliant lights hovering in the sky, or slowly falling" began at approximately 10:00 pm, and was due to a flare drop exercise by different A-10 jets from the Maryland Air National Guard, also operating out of Davis-Monthan AFB as part of from Operation Snowbird. The U.S. Air Force explained the exercise as utilizing slow-falling, long-burning LUU-2B/B illumination
flares A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala, bengalo in several European countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illuminatio ...
dropped by a flight of four A-10 aircraft on a training exercise at the Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range in western
Pima County, Arizona Pima County ( ) is a County (United States), county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona, one of 15 List of counties in Arizona, counties in the state. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 1 ...
. The flares would have been visible in Phoenix and appeared to hover due to rising heat from the burning flares creating a "balloon" effect on their parachutes, which slowed the descent. The lights then appeared to wink out as they fell behind the
Sierra Estrella The Estrella Mountains or The Sierra Estrella (, , ) is a mountain range located southwest of Phoenix, Arizona. Much of the range falls within the Gila River Indian Reservation, but of BLM land is protected as the Sierra Estrella Wilderness, ...
mountain range to the southwest of Phoenix. The lights likely appeared to block out background stars because of their brightness, making it harder to see dim objects like stars in the areas they laid out. A Maryland ANG pilot, Lt. Col. Ed Jones, responding to a March 2007 media query, confirmed that he had flown one of the aircraft in the formation that dropped flares on the night in question. The squadron to which he belonged was at Davis-Monthan AFB on a training exercise at the time, and flew training
sortie A sortie (from the French word meaning ''exit'' or from Latin root ''surgere'' meaning to "rise up") is a deployment or dispatch of one military unit, be it an aircraft, ship, or troops, from a strongpoint. The term originated in siege warf ...
s to the Goldwater Air Force Range on the night in question, according to the Maryland ANG. A history of the Maryland ANG published in 2000 asserted that the squadron, the 104th Fighter Squadron, was responsible for the incident. The first reports that members of the Maryland ANG were responsible for the incident were published in ''
The Arizona Republic ''The Arizona Republic'' is an American daily newspaper published in Phoenix. Circulated throughout Arizona, it is the state's largest newspaper. Since 2000, it has been owned by the Gannett newspaper chain. History Early years The newspap ...
'' in July 1997. Later comparisons with known military flare drops were reported on local television stations, showing similarities between the known military flare drops and the Phoenix Lights. An analysis of the luminosity of LUU-2B/B illumination flares, the type which would have been in use by A-10 aircraft at the time, determined that the luminosity of such flares at a range of approximately would fall well within the range of the lights viewed from Phoenix.


Photos and videos

During the Phoenix event, numerous still photographs and videotapes were made showing a series of lights appearing at a regular interval, remaining illuminated for several moments, and then going out. The images were later determined to be the result of mountains not visible by night that partially obstructed the view of aircraft flares from certain angles to create the illusion of an arc of lights appearing and disappearing one by one.


Governor's response

Shortly after the 1997 incident, Arizona Governor Fife Symington III held a
press conference A press conference, also called news conference or press briefing, is a media event in which notable individuals or organizations invite journalism, journalists to hear them speak and ask questions. Press conferences are often held by politicia ...
, joking that "they found who was responsible" and revealing an aide dressed in an alien costume. Later, in 2007, Symington reportedly told a UFO investigator he'd had a personal close encounter with an alien spacecraft but remained silent "because he didn't want to panic the populace". According to Symington, "I'm a pilot and I know just about every machine that flies. It was bigger than anything that I've ever seen. It remains a great mystery. Other people saw it, responsible people... I don't know why people would ridicule it".


Later reports

Lights were reported by observers and recorded by the local
Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
television station on February 6, 2007. According to military officials and the FAA, these were flares dropped by F-16 "Fighting Falcon" aircraft training at
Luke Air Force Base Luke Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States., effective 20 December 2007 It is located west of the central business district of Glendale, Arizona, Glendale, and west of Phoenix, Arizona, P ...
. On April 21, 2008, lights were reported over Phoenix by local residents. These lights reportedly appeared to change from square to triangular formation over time. A valley resident reported that shortly after the lights appeared, three jets were seen heading west in the direction of the lights. An official from Luke AFB stated that there was no U.S. Air Force activity in the area. The next day, a resident of Phoenix told a newspaper that the lights were nothing more than his neighbor releasing helium balloons with flares attached. This was confirmed by a police helicopter. The following day, a Phoenix resident, who declined to be identified in news reports, stated that he had attached flares to helium balloons and released them from his back yard.


Related films

* ''The Phoenix Lights...We Are Not Alone Documentary'', Lynne D. Kitei, M.D., executive producer, in collaboration with Steve Lantz Productions. Based on the book, ''The Phoenix Lights...A Skeptic's Discovery That We Are Not Alone'' and featuring astronaut
Edgar Mitchell Edgar Dean "Ed" Mitchell (September 17, 1930 – February 4, 2016) was a United States Navy officer and United States Naval Aviator, aviator, test pilot, Aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer, Ufology, ufologist, and NASA astronaut. ...
and former Governor of Arizona Fife Symington. * ''The Appearance of a Man'', directed by Daniel Pace * ''
Night Skies ''Night Skies'' is an unproduced science fiction horror film that was in development in the late 1970s. Steven Spielberg conceived the idea after ''Close Encounters of the Third Kind''. Instead, material developed at the time was used in ''Pol ...
'', a horror movie starring
Jason Connery Jason Joseph Connery (born 11 January 1963) is a British actor and director. He is the son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento. On screen, he is best known for appearing in the third series of the ITV (TV channel), ITV drama series ''Robin of She ...
, A.J. Cook, and Ashley Peldon, features the lights. It premiered
direct-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strateg ...
in the U.S. on January 23, 2007. * ''They Came from Outer Space'' (previous title: ''Phoenix Lights The Movie''), a science-fiction thriller starring Ossie Beck, Mackenzie Firgens, Yvette Rachelle, Matt Mercer, Terin Alba, Courtney Gains, Mark Arnold, Michael LeMelle, Aaron Mills, and Luke Amsden * '' The Phoenix Incident'', a science-fiction conspiracy horror film released in 2015 * ''
Phoenix Forgotten ''Phoenix Forgotten'' is a 2017 American found footage science fiction horror film directed by Justin Barber in his directorial debut, and written by Barber and T. S. Nowlin. The film is also produced by Nowlin, alongside Ridley Scott, Wes Ba ...
'', a found footage science-fiction horror film released in 2017


See also

*
Black project Black project is an informal term used to describe a highly classified, top-secret military or defense project that is not publicly acknowledged by government, military personnel, or contractors. United States and black projects In the United S ...
* Black triangle (UFO) * Hessdalen lights * Marfa lights * Tinley Park Lights * List of UFO sightings *
Rhodes UFO photographs The Rhodes UFO photographs, sometimes called the shoe-heel UFO photographs, purport to show a Flying saucer, disc-like object flying above Phoenix, Arizona, United States. The two photographs were reportedly taken on July 7, 1947, by amateur astr ...
, taken in Phoenix during the
1947 flying disc craze A rash of unidentified flying object reports in the United States were publicized in June and July1947. The craze began on June 24, when media nationwide reported civilian pilot Kenneth Arnold's Kenneth Arnold UFO sighting, story of witnessing di ...


References


External links

* *
Dickerson, John. "Unidentified"
Times Publications, November 2006 * Callahan, Tim. "The Phoenix Lights: The Fallibility of Human Perception and Memory" in Ballester-Olmos, V.J. and Heiden, Richard W. (Eds.),
The Reliability of UFO Witness Testimony
'. UPIAR, Turin, Italy (2023), pp. 39-44. {{UFOs 1997 in Arizona 1997 in Nevada Black triangle UFOs Collective UFO sightings Lights Events in Tucson, Arizona UFO sightings in the United States March 1997 in the United States