NUFORC Sighting 08345

Occurred: 1997-03-13 20:15 Local
Reported: 1999-07-13 00:00 Pacific
Duration: 10 minutes
No of observers: 1

Location: Phoenix, AZ, USA

Shape: Light
Characteristics: Lights on object



Airline pilot views Phoenix lights from Interstate 10, while driving to work.

I have recently discovered your site and have enjoyed perusing it's contents. I read with some interest your report on the "Phoenix Lights" as I was a witness to their passage on the night in question. I am a pilot with one of the major carriers here in the valley and I live in the South Mountain area. On that night I was on my way to work and traveling north along interstate 10 at approximately 8:15 PM. The lights first appeared to me to be over the airport in a wide formation and traveling in a southerly direction, roughly over the interstate. There is no question that they were anomalous, they got my attention immediately, and I was concerned enough about distractedly weaving into other traffic while observing them, that I pulled off the interstate to watch them go overhead. Where my account seems to differ from the accounts of other witnesses is that I perceived the lights to be individual objects, five in all, traveling in a roughly triangular formation. As they passed overhead, I took note of a particularly bright star and noted that the star was never obscured by any solid object as the lights passed it. When the lights were directly overhead, they appeared to be comprised of two lights per object, the bright light in the direction of motion and a much fainter light immediately behind it. There was no variation in the color of the lights and no blinking or twinkling. It was very difficult to judge the altitude of the objects, as they were never more than pinpoints of light moving very slowly; if I had to guess, I would say they were at very high altitude. I know this is at odds with some of the more dramatic reports of a gigantic dark object, but I am certain that I am not mistaken. Being a pilot, I am a trained observer of lighted airborne objects and, while these lights were indeed strange, there is no doubt in my mind that they were individual objects and not the running lights on some single large object.

NUFORC Note:

Witness indicates in report that date of occurrence was 15MR97. Based on telephone conversations with the same witness, we suspect that he is referring to the major events reported over Phoenix on Thursday night, March 13, 1997. If our surmise is incorrect, we will change the date back to 15MR97 at a future date.


Posted 2000-04-26

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