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4:36 am
December 8, 2008
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Andy
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| Investigator | posts 101 |
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6:49 am
December 8, 2008
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Jacqui
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| Investigator in Training | posts 14 |
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I don't think they are a hoax. I just think they are connected to the Air Force base there. The AF denies that but then, let's not forget, there's no Area 51 either.
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9:08 am
December 8, 2008
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CrowTRobot
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| Investigator | posts 228 |
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These were actually addressed in a UFO program on the History Channel, National Geographic, some channel (I gotta start writing stuff down). Apparently, they were flares dropped from a military plane before landing. The reason they seem to go out at differing times is that there is a mountain/ mountain range outside the city that they fall behind. I know. That sounds like a stretch; however, some film/video expert matched up the flares and the mountain and it was an exact match. The flares 'went out' just as each dropped behind the shape of the mountain.
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9:55 am
December 8, 2008
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Harry
| | Fort Mill, SC | |
| Investigator | posts 60 |
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You're absolutely right, CrowTRobot. Those were magnesium flares which hang from "slow drift" parachutes and take a while to descend to earth. They are used in training exercises (and actual combat) to confuse the IR sensing systems used in aerial weapons systems.
It was suprising they were used in a relatively populated area, but you can see them almost nightly along the central and northern areas of the Nellis Range Complex north of Las Vegas.
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10:12 am
December 8, 2008
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CrowTRobot
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| Investigator | posts 228 |
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Harry said:
It was suprising they were used in a relatively populated area, …
And I assumed that is why the military denied them at first. The pilot was not suppose to drop them that close to the city. But since the issue wouldn't die, they had to come out with the truth.
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10:41 am
December 9, 2008
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CrowTRobot
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| Investigator | posts 228 |
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In an earlier post I said:
These were actually addressed in a UFO program on the History Channel, National Geographic, some channel…
This program was on again this morning (12/9). It's UFOs over Phoenix on the Discovery Channel.
I had forgotten about the second set of lights, a 'V-shape'. They didn't really spend a lot of time on this, but did imply it could have been a stealth, or some other military, aircraft. It made sense.
And as usual on these shows, they try to make a big deal of a possible government 'cover up'. Now, I'd not be surprised to find the government doesn't tell us everything; but I just can't believe everytime they deny knowledge of a UFO, they are hiding info on visitors from another world.
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10:32 am
December 10, 2008
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CrowTRobot
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| Investigator | posts 228 |
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If interested, and you read this post in time, tonight (12/10) UFO Hunters investigate whether the Arizona lights have returned since the 1997 sighting.
History Channel – 9:00 Central.
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5:48 am
January 13, 2009
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Jacqui
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| Investigator in Training | posts 14 |
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The following information comes directly from on article by Benjamin Radford on January 6, 2009, in response to the recent New Jersey lights. It discusses not the 1997 Phoenix lights but the 2008 Phoenix lights, which turned out to be a hoax using helium balloons and flares. The whole article can be found at http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/090106-new-jersey-ufo.html. If the 1997 Phoenix lights were also a hoax using helium balloons, that would explain why the AF claims it had nothing to do with it.
Phoenix Lights Revisited
On April 21, 2008, hundreds of Phoenix residents called police and local news media to report bright red lights hovering silently over the city. They changed shape after a while, moving from a triangular to rectangular configuration, then disappeared one by one. As in the New Jersey case, the local airport reported that nothing appeared on radar scans of the area.
So what were they?
The fact that the two cases are identical in virtually every way suggests that the same UFO appeared. (Of course since UFOs don't have registration numbers painted on the fuselage, it's impossible to be certain, but eyewitnesses reported seeing the same thing.)
In the Phoenix case, the UFO became an IFO, an Identified Flying Object. The 2008 Phoenix Lights case was a hoax, created by road flares tied to helium balloons. The hoaxer admitted it, and eyewitnesses reported seeing him do it.
In both cases, all the evidence points to a hoax: The lights moved independently like floating objects, not fixed lights on an aircraft; they moved together in the same direction as the wind; they did not show up on radar; and the lights extinguished in exactly the pattern we would expect from flares, going out one by one.
And isn't it interesting that red is the most common color of road flares?
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4:19 am
May 20, 2011
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Rob
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I worked as a deputy sheriff that night in Phoenix. Those lights were south of my position at least 50 miles, placing them 60 miles south of Phoenix. I investigated the matter and found they are flares used by the military at the Gila Bend Bombing range south of Phoenix.
Later I was stationed at the Gila Bend sub station for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. I witnessed this type of event several times on that bombing range.
Currently I work in Utah at Energy Solutions. The last three nights I have seen the exact type of flares south of my location approximately 10 miles on the Air Force bombing range. I tried to video tape them with my phone but they appear very small and you can hardly see them. I sat and watched them for about four hours tonight and also watched jets fly overhead as they performed practice exercises.
If anyone wants to debunk the UFO thing in Phoenix, come on out and get some videos. It happens quite often, but not every night.
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11:34 am
May 20, 2011
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Revenant
| | Hopelessly Locked In A "Fear Cage" | |
| Lead Investigator | posts 1393 |
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Thanks Rob for sharing your experiences. Where exactly are you seeing these flares in Utah? Energy Solutions has three locations in Utah. The first Air Force base that I thought of was Hill Air Force Base. But, I don't think that is correct. So I looked around and are you referring to Wendover Air Force Base? Or is it another one?
Also, I haven't heard any real uproar about this concerning Utah. One can assume that it is generally accepted or known that what is being seen are flares and not some sort of alien craft? If so…in your opinion since you've seen both…why are people up in arms in Phoenix but not Utah? Did the flares in Phoenix seem…"different" in some manner?
Lastly…one last link for the masses (we love links here  ): the Gila Bend Air Force Auxiliary Field.
Oh, and welcome to the site.
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"Skepticism is not a position, it's a process." -Dr Michael Shermer
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6:16 pm
May 20, 2011
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Axel Olrik
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| Investigator | posts 184 |
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I think one of the factors that gave the Phoenix Lights legs, was that there were claims of massive, soundless aircraft associated with them. No direct connection, just a few people reported seeing them fly over and block out the night sky at about the same time.
With the lights themselves, however, the argument for military flares seems pretty airtight. Recreations were dead on.
Personal story: Sometime, I think in the fifties, my grandfather, a physician, and aunt, a very hard headed woman, saw a large "cigar shaped" craft flying along a range in the Wasatch. They weren't at all the kind to dream things up. So I think they must have seen something. Possibly military?
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