- For clarification on what happened on March 13, 1997
over Phoenix and Arizona I made the following event analysis after initial
investigation:
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- Event 1 of a Type 1 object is the sighting of the boomerang
formation. However, the number of lights in the boomerang seemed to vary
along the path of the object from 5 to 7 according to the witnesses. Some
of the witnesses described this formation or object as huge, even up to
1 mile in span. It traveled, according to all witnesses, on a trajectory
from Northwest to Southeast. It traveled at slow velocity along most of
its course with one exception where it seemed to accelerate quickly. Its
altitude was estimated to be below 5,000 feet. We know this is simply an
estimate as it is difficult to determine the altitude of a flying object
in the night sky. The witnesses agreed they could hear no sound emanating
from the boomerang. The color of the lights changed between white and red.
-
- Event 2 of a Type 2 object was the big black triangular
form that was estimated by some witnesses to be as large as 2 miles in
span! The lights on this object varied from none to as many as 9 amber
lights. Some saw white lights, but they did not glow brightly. This object
was seen to apparently deploy one of the lights to the west as it was moving
on its southeasterly trajectory. The independent light-object has been
described as a small orb or sphere that glows, but does not cast a corona,
glare, or reflection from opaque surfaces.
-
- Event 3 - lights were the formation of amber-gold-orange
lights seen arrayed near the Estrella Mountains and videotaped at around
10:00 p.m. It turns out by actual count that 8 lights formed part of an
arc and 1 light was separated from this arc by a downward 10-degree angle
from an imaginary coordinate system. This separated light from a closer
perspective was actually two lights extremely close together. These lights
looked to be perfectly round when seen through a telescope and had no corona
or glare emanating from them.
-
- Event 4 of a Type 3 object were the 2 large top-shaped
object with engirdling pulsing rings of red light seen by Bill Greiner
near Luke AFB. These lights were also seen traveling North to South on
the west side of the valley. Bill reported seeing 3 jets take off from
Luke AFB to intercept the nearest object. That object then performed a
rapid vertical ascent leaving the planes far behind.
-
- Event 5 - Globes were reported seen in the vicinity of
the triangle described as Event 2. These were large white luminescent globes
that hovered silently over Fountain Hills, east of Scottsdale. These were
somewhat similar to the objects seen by Bill Greiner, but no pulsing ring
was seen.
-
- At this point in the analysis we knew that these objects
were unconventional; they did not behave like a conventional aircraft or
natural objects. They were unidentified; they were not identifiable as
a known class of objects or aircraft according to the descriptions given
by witnesses. They were unknown; the origin and nature of the objects are
not generally known.
-
- As we probed further my co-investigator Michael Tanner
came up with a further analysis:
-
- 1. FORMATION OF HOVERING ORBS - First observed in a hexagram
pattern at about 7:30 p.m. over the Superstition Mountains area east of
Phoenix in the characteristic 8+1(or 2) formation of amber orbs and was
next seen in two separate arc patterns with "trailing lights"
over Gila River area at about 9:50 and again at 10:00 at the southern edge
of Phoenix where they were seen by thousands and videotaped by a handful
who had camcorders close enough at hand to catch the fleeting minutes of
their displays. These amateur videos have immortalized the orb formations,
becoming known around the world as The Phoenix Lights. These are the very
same lights that started the controversy over "flares" and that
will be taken up in the next chapter. The last appearance of the hovering
orbs of the night was made over a now recognized "hot-spot" of
Rainbow Valley arrayed in a "V" formation at about 2:00 a.m.
on March 14th (and again appeared on January 14, 1998).
-
- 2. "V" FORMATION OF FLYING ORBS - First seen
leaving the Henderson-Las Vegas area and entering Arizona at high speed,
a V-formation of five to seven orbs, variously seen as bright blue-white
to a yellow-white, came through the Prescott Valley area at low altitude
by 7:50 p.m., turning south, where by 8:28, were videotaped (displaying
their characteristic movement within the formation) at the north end of
the valley that comprises the Phoenix metro area. In an apparent slower
mode of flight, the orbs appeared at that point as amber in color as the
formation moved along Interstate 10 angling toward Tucson after having
been visually seen (not on radar) to intersect air traffic coming in on
approach to Sky Harbor International Airport. After hovering for several
minutes over a car full of witnesses driving north on I-10 at 65 mph, the
formation was then picked up by observers in the Oracle area who reported
the orbs' color as red to red-orange before the formation split up, going
in separate directions while skirting the edges of the Tucson metropolitan
area. At various points independent of this very specific formation, individual
orbs were seen to shoot across the metro Phoenix valley with some moving
away from and then re-docking with one or more of the Very Large Objects
(VLOs) which came through later in the night.
-
- 3. CHEVRON VLO (narrow angle) - Observed first as a "V"
formation of five white lights moving slowly and silently toward Prescott
Valley from the northwest at about 8:15 p.m., the "chevron" was
soon clearly seen as a single object. The huge craft made a pivot turn
over the witnesses' home there while the lights shifted into an arc formation
while the lights turned red and then it shot off at blinding speed toward
Phoenix. At that time the next set of witnesses in central Phoenix saw
the object coming directly toward them (estimated at Mach 2 or 3) while
still in the "turbo" mode arc configuration, and then, as if
to slow back down again, was seen to change back into a "V" whereupon
it cruised silently and slowly right over their heads (only 100 to 200
feet above at 10 or 15 mph). The craft was later seen to zigzag through
the valley, even changing altitude at various points and hovering for five
minutes at the edge of Sky Harbor before proceeding south (right over the
Village Lab building) to Interstate-10. After following I-10 several miles
to Picacho Peak, the enormous craft (estimated at 900 feet or more on each
leading edge and more than a mile in length to its "taillights")
hovered once again for 10 to 15 minutes until there was no further track
of it. According to Michael, this is a possible docking point for this
craft and the giant triangle that followed it down I-10 some fifteen minutes
later. This same "chevron" or similar craft was seen traveling
east to west over north Phoenix at about 10:50 p.m.
-
- 4. BOOMERANG VLO (wide angle) - This "V" formation,
consisting of five groups of three lights, was confirmed to be a single
huge object by various Prescott-area witnesses, being equivalent to a formation
of five 747s flying absolutely lock-step in formation toward Phoenix. The
craft was seen to make a southerly turn at about 8:25, once again, in the
Prescott Valley area, after first approaching from the northwest. This
VLO was later seen (although not clearly enough to identify) by an America
West pilot who called Sky Harbor tower wondering what "those nine
lights were", and an amateur astronomer in Phoenix who wrote it off
as a formation of conventional airplanes. It is possible that this craft
was the same as the giant triangle(wide angle) described below.
-
- 5. TRIANGULAR VLO (narrow angle) - This is the one seen
by the family in Chandler. It may be the same Triangle or Deltoid craft
seen by others as a wide angle craft. It had definite structure complete
with panels in a grid along with lights at each of the three corners and
a larger center light. Multiple witnesses confirm its northwest to southeast
flight path through the eastern part of the valley with some observers
seeing one or more orbs leaving and then re-docking with this VLO at various
points. This particular craft was seen to "split in two" by a
resident in Gilbert, south of Chandler.
-
- 6. BIG BLACK TRIANGLE (wide angle) - By all accounts
the largest of the VLOs in the March 13th parade of craft, this gigantic
craft was first seen at close range over north Phoenix between 8:30 and
8:45 where the key witnesses (real estate people who subdivided the area)
estimated its size to be as much as two miles wide as its wingtip lights
fell over two parallel streets that are 1.8 miles apart. Its flight path
brought it low to the ground at this point (less than 2,000 feet) where
it was seen to not only have dozens of lights along its leading edges,
but also a row of windows wherein the silhouettes of "people"
were observed! At some point further south, other witnesses reported that
they saw nothing but the row of windows with beings (also in silhouette)
as all of the lights were turned off at that point. By the time the VLO
was seen over I-10 south of Casa Grande, however, three large lights were
seen to be turned on, one at each corner, with smaller lights on along
with the leading headlight. The witnesses here reported that it took them
one to two minutes to drive under this immense ship while they were driving
at 80 mph! They estimated the width of this VLO to be at least two, possibly
three miles wide and big enough for a C5-A Galaxy or "Condor"
troop transport (the largest conventional aircraft known) to land upon
it! The craft had definite structure to it and the family of witnesses
described its color as a flat blue-black like the color of a shotgun barrel.
They also reported seeing rectangular "panel-like" structures
on the underside of this craft.
-
- Another large triangle was seen moving just north of
Thunderbird Road at around 10:45 p.m., but the configuration of the triangle
was different. That triangle had a V-cut into its trailing edge to give
it a very distinctive look.
-
- 7. GIANT DISCOID VLO - Witnessed first by a retired airline
pilot, his sons and a friend, and seen coming down Scottsdale Road at about
10:20 p.m., this huge circular craft, featuring amber lights around its
perimeter (at an estimated one mile in diameter) was seen to make a purposeful
turn toward Sky Harbor at about Camelback Road where it also intersected
air traffic before disappearing from view over South Mountain. The corroborating
central Phoenix witness, also a former pilot (Vietnam) and retired U.S.
Marshal, described how the craft both reflected the city lights on its
underbelly and blocked out the stars with its upper half, attesting to
its being a single craft of spectacular "mile-wide" proportions.
This witness also claimed to have videotaped what he saw from the roof
of his apartment building, but his tapes mysteriously disappeared in what
may amount to a genuine "men-in-black (MIB)" episode. This craft
may also have docked with the "chevron" craft and cloaked in
"visual stealth" mode in its earlier pass through Phoenix at
about 8:20 to 8:30, but this is purest speculation. The two craft reappeared
(or two similar ones) in June and were photographed together at high altitude
over Phoenix by the same witnesses with a 35mm camera while also viewing
them with binoculars. A separate set of unconnected witnesses also reported
the sighting of a huge discoid craft (bigger than Sun Devil Stadium at
ASU) hovering at treetop level right off of the west end of the Sky Harbor
runways at between 2:00 and 3:00 a.m. one morning about two weeks before
March 13th.
-
- 8. MILITARY JET/UFO INTERCEPTION ATTEMPTS - We have to
date identified four such events (there may be more) that clearly point
to the conclusion that the Phoenix Lights UFO incident of March 13, 1997
was certainly no secret "black ops" or classified military exercise
as many people would like to believe. A woman who lives next to Luke Air
Force Base in the west part of the valley surfaced to report that at least
6 pairs of jets and as many as 8 were "scrambled" out of the
base on the night of March 13th, something she could never recall witnessing
before. One researcher called Luke AFB and asked someone who was out on
the flight line if anything was seen by base personnel, and, unofficially,
he answered that "they" were all over the place. The response
from Luke spokesmen and their response to FOIA requests indicate that they
were receiving phone calls about the lights, but never scrambled any jets
to pursue them. Witnesses say different. Here are the witness reports:
-
- A) Crown King at 5:30 p.m. - A formation of 3 huge "Vs"
were seen hovering over this pine-topped mountain and were soon joined
by a diamond-shaped or triangular craft which appeared "out of thin
air" (at first seen as an amber light). As the four objects were hovering
together, two jets were seen to come low from the south (from the direction
of Luke AFB) at which point the UFOs went into a "stack", collapsed
upon each other while going "into a ball", then totally disappeared!
This would be called a case of high strangeness. Finding nothing there,
the two jets circled the Crown King area and returned in the direction
of the base. Similar disappearing acts of formations of "Vs",
one over Lake Mead that afternoon and on March 27th over Elmont, New York
were reported to Village Labs after seeing the article published in USA
Today.
-
- B) Central Phoenix at 8:15 p.m. - A pair of F-15s were
dispatched from Luke AFB to attempt an interception of one or more of the
Vs approaching or entering the valley at that time. This was reported to
NUFORC by a ground crewman at Luke who stated that the aircraft were equipped
with gun cameras and that one of the pilots had to be helped out of his
plane because he was so shaken by his encounter. A cursory check revealed
that Luke AFB no longer has F-15s in its inventory and only has the F-16
aircraft. However, at one time both were maintained at Luke. Could these
F-15s have been visiting aircraft? There is still some attempt to locate
the civilian witness who corroborated this story.
-
- C) North Phoenix at 9:30 p.m. - One of the witnesses
who had earlier witnesses with his wife the giant wide-angle triangle reported
that when he was later at home, he saw in the distance what appeared to
be the return of the triangle, this time with only three lights on, one
at each corner. As the UFO hovered near the Deer Valley Airport in northwest
Phoenix, he saw two military jets approach the triangle, with one jet seen
to pass one side of it and the other seen to fly up under it, veering down
at the last moment to avoid midair collision.
-
- D) Luke AFB at 10:00 p.m. - (The original Event 4 - the
first aircraft/UFO encounter to be reported). A truck driver who had been
watching two unusual amber lights move ahead of him to the south for fully
two hours as he drove down I-17 from Camp Verde, reported that as he neared
his destination, a materials plant near Luke AFB, the two UFOs seemed to
have stopped their movement and were hovering. Once at the plant, while
waiting for his truck to be unloaded, he stood on a pile of materials to
watch what were now seen as two identical, toy-top like amber orbs (like
hot air balloons without hanging baskets) having a white iridescent sheen
and a band of red pulsating light, with the nearest to him being one to
two miles distant right near the runway at Luke. Suddenly, two F-16s, followed
by a third, "blasted out of Luke with their afterburners on full",
made a steep bank directly over the witness and headed straight for the
nearest UFO. At the moment the lead jets were about to close on the UFO,
it shot straight up and disappeared "in an instant" as the jets
passed right through the very spot where the object had been hovering.
The second UFO also vanished, as it was no longer hovering in the northwest.
-
- As you can see by Michael Tanner's event analysis and
my own event analysis, there was a lot of activity on March 13th, yet the
media chose to cover only 2 of these events. The Big Black Triangle has
been virtually ignored by the journalists and is considered significant
since these triangles have been reported more frequently throughout most
of the world.
-
- The story on these events will be in the next issue of
UFO magazine and air on The Learning Channel March 5th.
-
- Sincerely,
-
- Bill Hamilton
Executive Director Skywatch International, Inc.
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