1999-02-01 - Flagstaff, AZ - Chevron

Lights seen above Flagstaff AZ similar to "Phoenix Lights"

I was prompted to file this report after hearing of the “Phoenix Lights” for the first time last night. To be honest my memory of this event is sketchy but I can tell you what I remember.

It was either 1999 or 2000 within the first few months of the year. I think it was February. I was an undergraduate physics & astronomy student with Central Michigan University and I was with a group of two other students and our instructor. We were taking advantage of some time with the NURO telescope on Anderson Mesa near Flagstaff, AZ.

One night we left our control room to go outside and look at the stars. I don’t remember what time it was unfortunately. As we were standing there after a few minutes we noticed a “V” pattern of lights flying in a counter-clockwise circular path that took it overhead, then to the north(toward Flagstaff), toward the west at its other extent, south and then back up overhead. This triangle was being trailed by a red light (not blinking) that was a good distance behind. Too far behind to be attached to the tail of an airplane. This red light was noticeable when we first took note of the formation but after 2 to 3 minutes it vanished while the formation was due west of us. The triangular pattern continued its circle. I do not recall the color of the V pattern lights.

If memory serves me correctly I counted twenty lights, ten to each leg of the “V”. I ran in and grabbed a pair of binoculars and upon viewing the lights while it was directly overhead I saw the silhouette of an airplane with wings swept back at an approximately 45 degree angle and the lights were on the leading edges of the wings. The silhouette looked strange to me. The wings were attached to the fuselage about 1/3 of the way forward from the tail with the “nose” making up the other 2/3 of the length. While some of the details are foggy in my memory, I remember these proportions as they seemed quite atypical of any plane I’d seen. The body was slender and the wings were slender and relatively long.

I don’t remember what ultimately became of this plane. As to whether it flew off or the lights went out I don’t recall. Now at the time I was unfamiliar with the “Phoenix Lights” but was familiar with UFO sightings of triangular / V shaped light configurations. My opinion at the time and even now was that this plane and its trailing light were, for whatever reason, deliberately trying to appear as such a configuration. Hearing of the Phoenix Lights makes it seem even more plausible.

Now it could have been an aircraft in a holding pattern around the Flagstaff airport which is south of town and was to our west. This is a possibility, however it still seems strange that it would have so many leading lights, would have a red light trailing quite far behind, and in the middle of the night would have to continually circle a small regional airport which according to my professor no longer received any commercial flights and has sparse traffic even in the daytime.


((NUFORC Note: Witness indicates that the date of the incident is approximate. PD))