Description

Lights of varying descriptions were seen between 7:30 pm – 10:30 pm MST, in a space of about 300 miles (480 km), from the Nevada line, through Phoenix, to the edge of Tucson. Some witnesses described seeing what appeared to be a huge carpenter’s square-shaped UFO containing five spherical lights. There were two distinct events involved in the incident: a triangular formation of lights seen to pass over the state, and a series of stationary lights seen in the Phoenix area.[3][4]
Both sightings were due to aircraft participating in Operation Snowbird, a pilot training program of the Air National Guard based in Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona. The first light group was later identified as a formation of A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft flying over Phoenix while returning to Davis-Monthan. The second group of lights were identified by Robert Sheaffer as illumination flares dropped by another flight of A-10 aircraft that were on training exercises at the Barry Goldwater Range in southwest Arizona.[5] Fife Symington, governor of Arizona at the time, years later recounted witnessing the incident, describing it as “otherworldly.”[3][4]
Reports of similar lights arose in 2007 and 2008 and were attributed to military flares dropped by fighter aircraft at Luke Air Force Base,[6] and flares attached to helium balloons released by a civilian, respectively.[7]