It was 6/14 @ about 8:30-8:50pm (sorry about as accurate as I can pin it down to), I was on the 101 just at about Cave Creek when they were mentioned
to me and they were (mostly) in view until shortly after we hit the I17 (until we almost got to the Bell exit)... so I was basically in between those
two addresses on the map... Also, based on the distance it appears to be in the video, I have to say that he was at that Corrine address because they
were a little smaller from my location. And in regards to them appearing stationary by the mountain, that's actually how they were noticed.
For reference the 101 is "hilly" (as all our freeways are) to control flood waters from the desert (plus they like to alternate over and
under-passes for some reason)... anway, point of that is that the view would come and go, meaning we could see it when we went up, but view was
obscured when we went down, and it constantly goes up and down (when I say "went down, then up" in the story, that's us I'm talking about).
Onto story, my buddy asked me if those lights were antennas on a mountain, I caught a quick (3 sec) glimpse and said I didn't recall us having any
other main antenna mountains other than South Mountain (a bit to the south and a ways east of there) and that those type of lights are normally red
too... anyway, didn't get a good look when he said it. We go down, then up... so I looked around at the horizon and it was very clear out (no haze),
and noticed there was no mountain underneath, there was one off to the side in the foreground though (which I pointed out to him, no mountain close
enough). At this point I saw there were 7 lights, zig zagged, up and down, tightly packed together except one off to the right side (from my
perspective, which means it was toward the NorthWest). Also, that one was roughly 3x further than the avg distance of space between each light in the
group. Definitely had a clear view... for 15 seconds. Went down, then up. Same view again but no talking, both of us just watching this for another
15 seconds. Went down then up, same again... clear unobstructed view for 15 seconds, which at this point it was obvious that there was no apparent
vertical movement & horizontal movement was minimal, just a little "compacting of space" between objects... which at that point w/ lack of Vert
movement, I assumed there was less chance of flares (as was my first thought given that Luke AFB is in the same direction). Down then up. Holy crap,
there were now almost twice the number of lights (12 or 13... too in shock to try and count). The new ones were slowly moving in from the right. And
the new ones maintained the perfect up-down zig-zag that went from left to right. 15 secs to stare in awe, sped through the down, went back up. The
new lights were now in "perfect" alignment with the rest, they had "joined" the first group. Went down, then up. We then had a clear unobstructed
view for about 45 seconds as we got onto the I17 from the 101. After the onramp when we got down to tree level the view was obscured. After that, we
only caught a *quick* (1-2 sec) glimpse of 2 of them again after we exited to the West on Bell. That's the end of my story.
Now based on the video, it appears that the mountain was obscuring the right part of the string (of lights). Tis a shame. Also though, the lights were
white-ish orange, the did not change colors in the least that we saw. Also, just to clear up the way I explained, there was nothing mathmatically
perfect or exact with the distances between objects. They were all spaced slightly different both horizontally and vertically, so the zig-zagging
wasn't perfect, like Charlie Browns sweater, but you should get the idea... here, Il drew a picture.
Sisonek: Is the military base you mention Luke? Or is it a diff one? Unless they were helicopters or VTOLs, (or whatever the abbrevation for the
vertical take off and landing jets is) the only other option is flares. Most definitely not enough movement for regular planes. Also, to answer from a
later Q, if you are asking about the airfield to the NorthWest, it wasn't that one, it was definitely more in the direction of the main Luke base.
Oh, and which area is not really developed? Are you talking about the "new" area (to the north) or just still undeveloped stuff to the south?
mewzik's got a good idea... Sometime later this week I will drive out to both addresses with my digital camera and see if I can line up a similar
shot. Maybe I'll also have my wife drive down the 101 and I'll snap a few pics so I can highlight where we saw stuff.
Anyway, whatever else you wanna know, ask away.
-ScislaC-
PS: for the record I'm a guy... (only mentioned because some said he or she)
PPS: I hope you can see the pic, it just shows me the BBcode in the post here.
(edited to correct time & date info, per my wife)
[edit on 6-23-2004 by ScislaC]
[edit on 6-23-2004 by ScislaC]
[edit on 6-23-2004 by ScislaC]