The Massive UFO Flyover of Arizona, March 13, 1997 aka: The Phoenix Lights

First, I would like to say thank you to ATS and ATS Live for this opportunity.

This is my first thread.

My name is Mike Fortson and I very much would like to start this thread so I can tell you of events that I am aware of and answer any questions you may have of the many events that occured on the Thursday evening of March 13, 1997. My wife and I are 8:30 pm witnesses to the massive V shaped craft. Although I am only a witness, I have been very much involved from the beginning.

Last Saturday evening I was a guest of ATS Live and was allowed to openly and freely speak my case of the events as I know them. For that opportunity, I say "thank you". There were great questions and two very well known callers to the show. Frances Emma Barwood (former Phoenix city councilwoman) who is the bravest lady I know in this case. She was the one who during a council meeting ask, "why don't we investigate the strange happenings over Sky Harbor airport?" After all the airspace around Sky Harbor is protected airspace. She was shunned so to speak and unfairly ridiculed in the media. The same media may also be responcable for her to lose in the next election. She spoke of her knowledge and frienship with former governor Fife Symington and his reasons for the "hoax" press conference.

The other caller was the respected Dr Bruce Maccabee who again reiterated that indeed, "the 10 pm videos are flares!"

It turned out to be a great live radio show!

I have been ask to start this thread to tell of events and answer questions. If there is a question you have, please feel free to ask. I do have a full time job, but I promise I will check this thread daily and do my best to answer all questions.

My stories have been graciously posted and available at Frank Warren's website.

Thank you,

Mike Fortson

I have a question, (by the way, it was indeed a very nice live show) My question is one of simplicity, what exactly do YOU think the V-shaped objest was

reply to post by mikefortson


Let's get some facts straight here and a clear mind while doing so.

1. It's NOT the Phoenix "lights", it's the Phoenix Flares!

2. The first event was of a poorly constructed triangle composed of jets that wandered in and out of the formation and this is what the grainy video shows. Anything else is wishful thinking.

3. NO ONE in Phoenix proper looked up and saw anything but a beautiful star-filled sky.

4. Because the military flares were dropped behind the mountains and this is supported by the nighttime video(s)taken from the opposite hills overlooking Phoenix and supported with daylight video from same location.

5. At least one video shows a military plane with a strobe in the same scene with the flare formation.

This event is just as bad as Roswell where no UFO crashed but the truth doesn't sell, fantasy does. Sad state of affairs. Belief wins over reason!

Welcome to ATS mate, just want to say that military flares escapade later in the evening annoyed me but I can't say I'm all that surprised given their history on the UFO phenomenon.

I second the question on what you think it was and also, what were the emotions you felt staring at this thing? Apologies if un-original but I'd like to know.

Originally posted by The Shrike
reply to post by mikefortson

 

Let's get some facts straight here and a clear mind while doing so.

1. It's NOT the Phoenix "lights", it's the Phoenix Flares!

2. The first event was of a poorly constructed triangle composed of jets that wandered in and out of the formation and this is what the grainy video shows. Anything else is wishful thinking.

3. NO ONE in Phoenix proper looked up and saw anything but a beautiful star-filled sky.

4. Because the military flares were dropped behind the mountains and this is supported by the nighttime video(s)taken from the opposite hills overlooking Phoenix and supported with daylight video from same location.

5. At least one video shows a military plane with a strobe in the same scene with the flare formation.

This event is just as bad as Roswell where no UFO crashed but the truth doesn't sell, fantasy does. Sad state of affairs. Belief wins over reason!

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: To correct reply.

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: To correct reply.

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: (no reason given)

"NO ONE" in Phoenix?!?

I guess 1000s of eyewitnesses including the ex-Governor Fife Symington must have been dreaming..

Originally posted by 8thwonder
Originally posted by The Shrike
snip
"NO ONE" in Phoenix?!?

I guess 1000s of eyewitnesses including the ex-Governor Fife Symington must have been dreaming..

I still say no one. The flares were not dropped OVER Phoenix proper. Only the residents on the hills opposite the mountains saw anything. How can you see something overhead if the activity was not taking place overhead?

The daylight video synchronized with the nighttime video proves it. Sorry, 1000s of eyewitnesses doesn't jive. Find a Phoenix resident who looked up and saw the flares. I bet you can't.

A neighbor moved to Phoenix and when I asked him what he saw he said he didn't see anything as there was no alarm in the streets, no huge amounts of people spilling out into the streets, it was the next day when word got around about the event.

Originally posted by The Shrike
reply to post by mikefortson

 

Let's get some facts straight here and a clear mind while doing so.

1. It's NOT the Phoenix "lights", it's the Phoenix Flares!

2. The first event was of a poorly constructed triangle composed of jets that wandered in and out of the formation and this is what the grainy video shows. Anything else is wishful thinking.

3. NO ONE in Phoenix proper looked up and saw anything but a beautiful star-filled sky.

4. Because the military flares were dropped behind the mountains and this is supported by the nighttime video(s)taken from the opposite hills overlooking Phoenix and supported with daylight video from same location.

5. At least one video shows a military plane with a strobe in the same scene with the flare formation.

This event is just as bad as Roswell where no UFO crashed but the truth doesn't sell, fantasy does. Sad state of affairs. Belief wins over reason!

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: To correct reply.

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: To correct reply.

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: (no reason given)

Meh. I disagree with your dismissal of the earlier event. So many people having their minds blown by planes in formation? From the descriptions I've heard of the lights, which many people said were very large and passing silently directly over their heads, I consider jets to be an unlikely explanation. If the lights had a remarkably large apparent diameter, they would have to be awfully low to be borne by airplanes, in which case there would be a lot of noise. The fact that so many people also described the surface of the craft also leads me to think that they actually saw what they claim to have seen. Ditto the descriptions of a black shape blotting out the stars.

By the way, can you link us up to the video you're talking about in your point 2.? I don't think I've seen it.

reply to post by The Shrike


The Shrike, you may be right, but...

What do you say about the hundreds of people who described a silent boomerang shaped solid object blocking out stars as it passed slowly over the sky?

What do you say about the governor of Phoenix, Fife Symington who says he saw a giant craft that blocked the stars out as it passed? Symington was a pilot I might add...

How do you explain these testimonies?

(welcome to ATS Mike... )

Originally posted by The Shrike

Originally posted by 8thwonder
Originally posted by The Shrike
snip
"NO ONE" in Phoenix?!?

I guess 1000s of eyewitnesses including the ex-Governor Fife Symington must have been dreaming..

I still say no one. The flares were not dropped OVER Phoenix proper. Only the residents on the hills opposite the mountains saw anything. How can you see something overhead if the activity was not taking place overhead?

The daylight video synchronized with the nighttime video proves it. Sorry, 1000s of eyewitnesses doesn't jive. Find a Phoenix resident who looked up and saw the flares. I bet you can't.

A neighbor moved to Phoenix and when I asked him what he saw he said he didn't see anything as there was no alarm in the streets, no huge amounts of people spilling out into the streets, it was the next day when word got around about the event.

edit on 13-3-2012 by The Shrike because: (no reason given)

The fact that people observed the thing passing across the sky overhead indicates to me that they were not looking at the 10pm flares.

Originally posted by thesearchfortruth
reply to post by The Shrike

 

The Shrike, you may be right, but...

What do you say about the hundreds of people who described a silent boomerang shaped solid object blocking out stars as it passed slowly over the sky?

What do you say about the governor of Phoenix, Fife Symington who says he saw a giant craft that blocked the stars out as it passed? Symington was a pilot I might add...

How do you explain these testimonies?

(welcome to ATS Mike...

)

edit on 13-3-2012 by thesearchfortruth because: he added welcome

Shrike explains them in a rather lame yet overconfident fashion. Typical. Any sighting can be prosaically explained if you just toss out the details that don't fit your explanation.

I found this video at YouTube that offers an explanation and the video of the < shaped craft that everyone thinks was an alien craft. Not on your life! It's a formation of military planes that are having a problem keeping a < formation.

I tried to embed the video but for some reason I'm not able to get results and what I wind up with is a black, blank screen that puts the blame on a malformed video URL.

Please embed the video for me, thanks

The video is 11-1/2 minutes long
The Phoenix Lights #2 "The true event"
www.youtube.com...

Originally posted by thesearchfortruth
reply to post by The Shrike

 

The Shrike, you may be right, but...

What do you say about the hundreds of people who described a silent boomerang shaped solid object blocking out stars as it passed slowly over the sky?

What do you say about the governor of Phoenix, Fife Symington who says he saw a giant craft that blocked the stars out as it passed? Symington was a pilot I might add...

How do you explain these testimonies?

(welcome to ATS Mike...

)

edit on 13-3-2012 by thesearchfortruth because: he added welcome

If I hadn't seen the grainy, black and white video of the < formation and then the nighttime video of the giant display synchronized with the daylight view from the same vantage point I'd say you had a mystery. I don't accept the reports as real as you describe them.

See my reply with the video URL.

Originally posted by Orkojoker

Originally posted by thesearchfortruth
reply to post by The Shrike

 

The Shrike, you may be right, but...

What do you say about the hundreds of people who described a silent boomerang shaped solid object blocking out stars as it passed slowly over the sky?

What do you say about the governor of Phoenix, Fife Symington who says he saw a giant craft that blocked the stars out as it passed? Symington was a pilot I might add...

How do you explain these testimonies?

(welcome to ATS Mike...

)

edit on 13-3-2012 by thesearchfortruth because: he added welcome

Shrike explains them in a rather lame yet overconfident fashion. Typical. Any sighting can be prosaically explained if you just toss out the details that don't fit your explanation.

edit on 13-3-2012 by Orkojoker because: editing purposes

Do the research, it'll lead you to the same conclusion. But it's okay that you badmouthed me, it's expected.

I've personally corresponded with Tim Ley shortly after this incident and he, his son and his wife, described a huge object, which covered the entire sky above them...that slowly came down the valley and they were able to see (devoid the proper English verbiage to describe this but) a soft light that was almost iridescent and alive. Like it was moving in waves underneath the underbelly of this gigantic craft. He said the light was almost like an intelligent being.

The way he described this is: He was telling me the honest truth or.......his entire family dropped acid that night along with his neighbors and other Arizona citizens.


This was a bonafided sighting in my opinion. I don't understand why the governor would want flares investigated. If he couldn't verify flare dropping immediately....in order to rule them out then.... why do we even bother having people in office? And as i recall......the military knew nothing about this until some days later. Much like Roswell. Give them time? They'll feed the complacent just enough to keep the dumb, down and full!

Not sure who the OP is or what position he takes but I doubt very much I will ever budge from my position about this event.

Originally posted by Human_Alien


Not sure who the OP is or what position he takes but I doubt very much I will ever budge from my position about this event.

More Info here....

The Shrike is not right. He's going on videos, news and articles. All which are hearsay.

I corresponded with a witness I have testimony. This witness went on to be quite a key figure-head as far as interviews go, in many film-pieces about that night.

We met soon after this event. He had NOTHING to gain by telling me what he and his family WITNESSES with their 6 working eyeballs. He lacked the proper words. That alone is very telling. When you have an experience with something extraterrestrial or, mimicking something alien....there are no right words to describe it. It's like a caveman trying to describe an iPhone.

Let Shrike spew his misinformation so he can feel like he knows it all by steering us in the wrong direction but............we'll know better.

Originally posted by The Shrike

Originally posted by Orkojoker

Originally posted by thesearchfortruth
reply to post by The Shrike

 

The Shrike, you may be right, but...

What do you say about the hundreds of people who described a silent boomerang shaped solid object blocking out stars as it passed slowly over the sky?

What do you say about the governor of Phoenix, Fife Symington who says he saw a giant craft that blocked the stars out as it passed? Symington was a pilot I might add...

How do you explain these testimonies?

(welcome to ATS Mike...

)

edit on 13-3-2012 by thesearchfortruth because: he added welcome

Shrike explains them in a rather lame yet overconfident fashion. Typical. Any sighting can be prosaically explained if you just toss out the details that don't fit your explanation.

edit on 13-3-2012 by Orkojoker because: editing purposes

Do the research, it'll lead you to the same conclusion. But it's okay that you badmouthed me, it's expected.

Watching a video on YouTube is not research.

How 'bout this as a far-fetched theory.

What if.....the military got word or tracked on radar, this earlier craft sashaying down the valley and to defuse and confuse the situation, they set off flares just to throw people off?

Because I remember this vividly. The military denied any knowledge of any drills going on that evening.


So between this and 9-11, I'm not feeling too particularly safe in these inept hands who are trained to know what's going on in our skies at all times.

Oh, that's what's known as a snowbird op. By coincindence, the flare drop was called Operation Snowbird, wasn't it? Sense of humor. Somebody also made sure just the right person to videotape it and get it on the eleven o'clock news was notifed just in time, as well as making sure the pattern of the flare drop closely mimicked the mass sighting of an hour and a half earlier.

But none of that happened. The Phoenix Lights incident is from some novel, not a real event, right?

reply to post by Human_Alien


Beat me to it and for the last week or so I have considered starting a thread to that effect !

I don't subscribe to the theory that the earlier sightings were jets but accept the later lights as flares. I wonder how often flares were dropped at that location - if very rarely then to coincide with the earlier sightings is a big coincidence.

If deliberate then to obfuscate but considering the delay it would seem unlikely what was seen was military.