Phoenix Lights: keep the early formation and later flare display separate

Witness account

On 13 March 1997, witnesses in Arizona reported a moving arrangement of lights during the earlier evening, with some perceiving a single enormous shape. Around 10 p.m., separate stationary or slowly descending lights were recorded south or southwest of Phoenix. These two sequences are frequently merged in later retellings and videos.

Public record

Contemporary reporting and later investigation tied the later display to illumination flares dropped by Maryland Air National Guard A-10s over a training range. For the earlier formation, amateur astronomer Mitch Stanley reported resolving individual airplanes through a telescope. Reporter Tony Ortega recorded a military spokesman’s statement that those Maryland aircraft had not flown north of Phoenix.

Sources

• NUFORC: Phoenix Lights report
• Tony Ortega: contemporary Phoenix reporting and later assessment
• Phoenix Lights oral history, 25th anniversary