UFOs flew over Phoenix in '97, Symington says

ARIZONA DAILY STAR ^ | 3/23/07 | Tom Beal

[Pro-Bush]

The Arizona Daily Star Published: 03.23.2007

UFOs flew over Phoenix in '97, Symington says By Tom Beal ARIZONA DAILY STAR

"The universe is a big place, and we're conceited to think we're alone." Fife Symington, former Ariz. governor Former Gov. Fife Symington says now that those strange lights that appeared over Phoenix a decade ago were from another world and that he had a close encounter with an alien craft on March 13, 1997.

"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," Symington said Thursday. "I don't know why people would ridicule it."

Symington, who was in his second term as governor of Arizona during the Phoenix Lights incident, recently told a UFO investigator making a documentary that he had kept quiet about his personal close encounter because he didn't want to panic the populace. He repeated his story Thursday on CNN, saying the craft he saw was "enormous. It just felt other-worldly. In your gut, you could just tell it was other-worldly."

[CremeSaver]

Isn't it amazing that all of these people in important positions see these things but never do anything about it?

[isthisnickcool]

[bnelson44]

The United States Air Force identified them as flares dropped by A-10 Warthog aircraft which were on training exercises. A video illustrating this explanation was broadcast on a special on Fox Television stations about a year after the event (I saw it). A copy of the original video was used in coordination with a video shot in the daytime from the exact same location. The two videos were merged into one on a frame by frame basis, so that the landmarks (both in the foreground and background) were always perfectly aligned. This allowed analysis of the lights regarding their apparent height above the mountain, and it was easily seen that the lights vanished in line with the outline of the mountain. Military flares such as these can be seen from hundreds of miles with correct environmental conditions. This can explain why the flares were seen from the Nevada state line and Tucson. Later comparisons with known military flare drops were reported on local television stations, showing dramatic similarities between the known military flare drops and the Phoenix Lights

Airforce pilot, Lt. Col. Ed Jones, came forward in early 2007 claiming responsibility for the drop of leftover flares on the night in question, and claims to be a pilot of one of the four A10s in the squadron that he says launched the flares.

Fox video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8BWwd1ciKk


Ref:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights

[Principle Over Politics]

That pic has been photoshoped.

Rush would never shake with his left hand.

[Pro-Bush]

That's right, and Luke afb knew nothing about it.

[DLfromthedesert]

He's part of a loooong line of stellar AZ governors.

[brytlea]

My brother was the controller on duty when of the tapes that was on Art Bell was recorded. Kinda interesting, altho I don't think my brother believes in UFOs even still.
susie

[Vinnie]

I do recall the one black guy and his wife making a claims of abduction.

That would be Betty and Barney Hill.
Actually I thought their story and ensuing investigation was pretty convincing.
I think they were the first of the modern abduction cases.

If you are interested, one of the cases that I find really convincing is the Alligash Incident.
Four or five college buddies ( two of them are twins)go night fishing on Alligash Lake in Maine.
It's a long story but the short version is they get abducted but have no memory of it.
Years later one of the twins starts having nightmares. He is so troubled he calls his brother to talk to him about it. The second brother is having similar dreams.
Both brothers are artists, and their paintings and sculptures take a turn to alien creatures.
Very fascinating case.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

BTTT!

[csuzieque]

Betty and Barney Hill

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooo!!!

[onyx]

Right! Thanks! :0)

[mmanager]

TTFF!!!!!!!!!!!!

That's too F***** funny! What a great way to finish the week. Best i've heard of all week.

Thanks

[onyx]

Yes, thank you: Betty and Barney Hill.

I can understand how you find this interesting, but it's more amusement for me.

Thanks for the information.

[MARTIAL MONK]

Early in 1997 I was in Gilbert, Arizona visiting friends. It was dusk as we walked out on the front lawn. I glanced up and saw a huge shallow V of lights slowly coming south from over the McDowell Mountains. The formation was exactly what I saw later on the films of the "Phoenix Lights" but this was in February, not the March 13 sighting.

I stopped and stared, transfixed, at the formation. I have to admit that UFO's crossed my mind but it was still light enough that I could see the gaps between the lights. As I watched, the formation stopped and hovered. The light on the far left (my right) then moved forward and slightly in front of the formation. It made a 90 degree turn and crossed in front of the others.

My mind was spinning trying to categorize what I was seeing. When they stopped and hovered I went to 'helicopters' and from there to 'Falcon Field' (which they were near or over) and from there to 'Apaches' and from there to 'training'. Falcon Field is where they were building, testing and training for the Apaches. At the time they were training foreign pilots.

At this point my friend looked up to where I was staring. He said "Oh those, we see those all the time." He went on to tell me a story about how he and his son had watched them from his son's bedroom window at Christmas. He was not in the least concerned. I believe that the Phoenix Lights were Apaches.

[Rokke]

I was stationed at Luke AFB (in Phoenix) and flying the night these "UFOs" were sighted. They were flares dropped from A-10's. I had been mildly interested in UFO sightings and other such conspiracies, but the resultant hysteria over the "Phoenix lights" was very revealing and actually caused me to dismiss the whole UFO phenomenon as nonsense. People really want to believe they've seen something special, and imagining something they can't explain is from outer space is especially exciting. Having been a professional military and commercial pilot for almost 20 years, I see things in the sky very frequently that I can't explain. At least not at first. But as ranges decrease or perspectives change the "unexplainable" becomes very ordinary. Unfortunately, there are professional con artists who make a living off of stoking the flames of peoples' imaginations. Nothing wrong with that, until people start accusing innocent parties of lying and coverups because they won't support some else's fantasy. Day dream all you want, but don't expect the rest of the world to shift reality to match your fantasy.

[Vinnie]

but every time I check on an individual story, there's nothing to it.

Check out post #48.

Almost all of the stories I see on TV, I discount. Esp. if the abductee starts the 'they want us to stop playing with nukes'. Or 'they abduct me several times a week.'

Another is Crop Circles. Give me a break.

[bnelson44]

watch:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8BWwd1ciKk

[bnelson44]

By the way, does it help that I live here, know by the photos about were they flares would have come down and that it is a known military training area?

[Steve_Seattle]

I've never seen a UFO, but I've talked to several who have, and relatively close up, and there stories seem credible, with multiple witnesses. I don't know about these Phoenix lights, but sometimes the "explanations" of skeptics seem more far-fetched and pathetic than simply accepting the fact that there are some things we can't yet explain.