And further down in the comments on that page is the following:

This was sent in by e-mail from
Lester Seay:

Sorry 30 years Air Force I was there as well and there were definitely two different occurrences. Given the chance of 1 out of 100 it is possible that the one occurrence could have been flares but not the second occurrence. I have 21 years of service in the US Army and I have seen flares as well especially the ones referred to on the A 10's. So please don't insult the individuals that also have qualifications and they dispute your answer. Take a hint from the Gentleman that writes the craft seen was at a"LOW ALTITUDE " . While we're on the subject anyway , explain the fact regarding the " V " formation. You should admit whether you want to or not that flares do not hang from a parachute in perfect " V " formation. On the other hand maybe it was just a bunch of shiny weather balloon's.

Lester Seay

I am going to go with the second one.

Also does anyone know when the flare drop was actually scheduled? was it an on the spur exercise, or does anyone have documentation about it being planned well in advance?

EDIT: oh, you were the one who posted that second email too for balance of argument?

[edit on 12-3-2008 by Shere Khaan]

Yes, I witnessed the event that night and I agree that the lights most of you are familiar with are more than likely just flares...

HOWEVER, why did the military drop those flares to begin with? MAYBE IT WAS TO DIVERT ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE MASSIVE CRAFT THAT FLEW OVER THE VALLEY AN HOUR BEFORE THE FLARES WERE DROPPED!!!!

I PERSONALLY witnessed this MASSIVE, TRIANGULAR SHAPED CRAFT that flew directly over my head that night. It blacked out the sky, and moved completely silently!

I believe the military tried to cover up that sighting with the more popular mystery of the lights, in order to conceal the REAL UFO, and confuse the public. Then, when careful analysis of the "OTHER" Phoenix Lights reveals that they were merely flares, people will write off the entire experience as having been solved!

IT MOST CERTAINLY IS NOT SOLVED!

Originally posted by bigdaddy7ftr

HOWEVER, why did the military drop those flares to begin with?

MAYBE IT WAS TO DIVERT ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE MASSIVE CRAFT THAT FLEW OVER THE VALLEY AN HOUR BEFORE THE FLARES WERE DROPPED!!!!

on radio station KFYI, a Phoenix talk radio 24/7, i followed the reports
all day long, of the dark triangle crossing the Nevada state line around Kingman AZ...
then all day long with visual reports from places all over the state,
Kingman, then Ash Fork, over to Flagstaff then Sedona, Prescott, Verde Valley,
then over to Wickenberg, back over to BlackCanyonCity, CaveCreek
and vicinity...[pull up a state map and see the highway corridors the craft flew along]
and locally over 40th St & Camelback Mountain, western direction over IndianSchoolRoad & Estrella Park, then southward over Chandler then Casa Grande on its way to Tucson in the late afternoon/early evening...

Only to show up back in Phoenix that night...

there are seperate incidents involved here, one should obtain tapes of the
radio station on air that interesting day & night (March 13th 1997)

[edit on 12-3-2008 by St Udio]

All these reports of a large black triangular shaped flying object from all over the state day and night. And yet not a single photopraph of it ???

Maybe it wasn't there at all. Or maybe it was a stealth bomber or Aurora if it actually exists.



Peace..

Originally posted by Rock Ape
All these reports of a large black triangular shaped flying object from all over the state day and night. And yet not a single photopraph of it ???

Good point and it pretty much explains the whole "mystery".

Originally posted by Rock Ape
All these reports of a large black triangular shaped flying object from all over the state day and night. And yet not a single photopraph of it ???

Maybe it wasn't there at all. Or maybe it was a stealth bomber or Aurora if it actually exists.

The other day we had some celebrations in my home city (Canberra) and they did a flyover with a B1 bomber going about as slow as they can go. It was flying very low and the area I live has a completely restricted airspace so it took me by great surprise for it to go over head.

The plane had a slight tail of dark smoke - which I was later told was because it was flying so slow - but before I had a chance to even register all this the plane was gone. The only way I could have gotten a photo was if I had my camera in my hand at that very moment.

I find it very likely that photos would be few and far between, especially if it was at night.

[edit on 12-3-2008 by Shere Khaan]

If there were reports of this on the radio all day, one certainly would expect some good video, or pictures, but that still doesn't explain the whole sighting. As a previous poster stated, maybe the alleged flares were dropped at the last moment to confuse people about the whole incident.

Hi Frank

<~~~Baz from the CE List

Its a pity he didn't come forward at the time huh?

Did anyone ever find burned out flares or parachutes on the ground?
RR

The lights commonly shown as being the Phoenix lights I'm 99% sure are flares.

One night over a decade ago, I was driving home after midnight through the Aussie bush and I saw pretty much exactly what u see in those vids. I stopped and jumped out my car excited I was seeing some kind of UFO, then after a few tantalising minutes where these lights seemed to just hover way up I began to see the illuminated smoke trails and a slight drift, the giveaway they were flares. Again, that is almost exactly what is depicted in those phoenix lights vids.

As mentioned earlier, these lights, seem to be some kind of diversion from a completely separate incident the same night, which should perhaps instead be called the 'Phoenix Dark Triangle' or such. The lights footage is being used to discredit real reports afaic because anyone who has seen a flare drop will be laughing at suggestions of UFOs in those vids.

Originally posted by neformore
Hi Frank

<~~~Baz from the CE List

Its a pity he didn't come forward at the time huh?

Hi Baz,

Since this person's first communique I have politely asked for copies of the documents he mentioned; to date I haven't received a reply.

If we are to believe some of the earlier witnesses (late afternoon), and I do, then the PTB was aware something was going on at that time; presumably this would institute an "alert status"; that said, one would think any training missions at that point would be nonsensical.

I am of the opinion that the "flare drop" was of a diversionary tactic, and quite frankly an effective one, as the debate goes on to this day.

I also believe, based on the early work done by MUFON, the statements of a few people in an official capacity with the guard, as well as Maccabee's analysis of the 10:00 pm videos, that they were indeed of the flare drop.

This however, does not negate, nor explain the huge V-Shaped craft witnessed by thousands earlier in the evening, and or day.

Cheers,
Frank

Originally posted by Frank Warren
I am of the opinion that the "flare drop" was of a diversionary tactic, and quite frankly an effective one, as the debate goes on to this day.

I agree. They did a good job of it.

This however, does not negate, nor explain the huge V-Shaped craft witnessed by thousands earlier in the evening, and or day.
Cheers,
Frank

The earlier "visit" is the real mystery in this one. It sure as hell must have put the wind up the military for them to come up with such an "interesting" diversion - kudos to them for devising it so quickly - unless they knew it was coming

Originally posted by Rock Ape
All these reports of a large black triangular shaped flying object from all over the state day and night. And yet not a single photopraph of it ???

... a grasp for the obvious, and your getting stars?

back in '97 all youse 'entitled to everything' people didn't have the popular camera-phones yet (don't quote me on that, but i believe that's a true statement)

next off, 90% of the AZ population wasn't tuned-in to KFYI, to be aware of a mass sighting (or hallucination, or practical joke,
or even a promotional stunt...) of a triangle craft in any given area at any given time,
and ready to take photographs with the aid of a telescope.... or whatever !

He might have been there. They probably were flares. As others have said, the flares were probably used to distract people from the real event. There is a video of the actual UFO. It is grainy, and it shows lights in a V formation flying almost directly above the camera operator. The person who made the video is a commercial pilot.

The best lie is the one that is closest to the truth. Look at how many videos and television programs on the "Phoenix Lights" there have been since the event. Some of them show the brief video of the actual UFO. But, most of the time and resources has been spent on addressing the flares over the hill.

Mission accomplished.

HOWEVER, why did the military drop those flares to begin with? MAYBE IT WAS TO DIVERT ATTENTION AWAY FROM THE MASSIVE CRAFT THAT FLEW OVER THE VALLEY AN HOUR BEFORE THE FLARES WERE DROPPED!!!!

I believe the military tried to cover up that sighting with the more popular mystery of the lights, in order to conceal the REAL UFO, and confuse the public. Then, when careful analysis of the "OTHER" Phoenix Lights reveals that they were merely flares, people will write off the entire experience as having been solved!

....stupid buttons

Anyhoo...I meant to "quote" and fully agree with the flares being a decoy.

OK, so this guys claimes that he was part of the "exercise" that produced the famed Pheonix Lights. Thats all good by me and I'm sure that he could produce some convincing evidence to support his claims, but werent there supposedly a bunch of eyewhitnesses? If there were, then isnt this guy calling them all liars?

I mean if a giant object moves over your house slowly and silently, then what do you say to the man that cliams all you saw were military flares?

I'm on the fence on this one. My take is that a secret military craft was flown over the area, but since I have no first hand experience with either facets of the story, I guess i'll just continue to believe what I believe.

Hi Baz,

The earlier "visit" is the real mystery in this one. It sure as hell must have put the wind up the military for them to come up with such an "interesting" diversion - kudos to them for devising it so quickly - unless they knew it was coming

This gives rise to the notion that there is an "apparatus or protocol" in place to handle such events; an example of a similar scenario having been done recently in Texas!

Cheers,
Frank