12 burnt-orange lights -- each zipping from DIFFERENT directions -- maneuvered around an oval black shape.
Three of us outside Starbucks coffee shop parking lot at Paradise and Flamingo avenues in Las Vegas very early Thursday morning (12:40 a.m.), 3/22/01, saw an amazing display of a squadron of burnt-amber lights -- each coming from different directions -- zipping about a black oval shape in a highly coordinated, interacting, maneuvering display. To the south, the Luxor Hotel's laser beamed straight up, and we could see nighthawks illuminated in the lower part of the beam, but those were not the UFOs we are describing in this report. There were no clouds. We were looking up at a 45-degree angle and to the northwest. At arm's length, the entire system appeared to cover no more than an inch. Witness #1 first saw the lights moving like a wave like a sine wave, then changing to individual burnt-amber dots in a straight, non-waving line like a string of beads, then changing to a circular formation. Then each light spread away from the others, weaving in and out from each other in highly coordinated maneuvering, each moving at the same speed but from different directions. In this last configuration, the 12 lights were all zipping around a contained oval diameter, but the startling aspect to the movements was the highly coordinated maneuvering between the objects. The entire system slowly moved north and perhaps upward until it was too far away to see. Witness #2 (this writer) saw the formation only at this latter stage, when the 12 burnt-amber lights were simultaneously zipping around the ovoid shape but each one coming from a different direction and going to a different location about this black ovoid shape. All 12 lights stopped momentarily before again zipping around in different directions and not in sequence, but all around this black shape. This was done repeatedly for about two minutes. The movements were fast, including very fast but rounded turns -- no zig-zagging. Mike Castrada, chief of the Public Affairs Office at Nellis Air Force Base, told me he has no report of this, which he would not have if it were classified, but he "wishes he were there" and that if Project Blue Book were still open, this report would probably be a case they would put into it. Castrada said that it appears we were looking at the Western part of the Nellis Test Range. Castrada said that "various FAA and Air Force radars control all that air space -- about 12,000 square miles -- from 3000 ft. about the North Las Vegas Airport to infinity, and all the way to the Utah border." Castrada said that Special Forces was there on an exercise but only from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. He said that if they were flying at night, they wouldn't have their lights on because that would defeat the purpose. He said Special Forces might have had perhaps four but not 10 to 12 planes. Witness #3 viewed the object thhe same length of time as Witness #1 but has not yet been interviewed in detail.
Three of us outside Starbucks coffee shop parking lot at Paradise and Flamingo avenues in Las Vegas very early Thursday morning (12:40 a.m.), 3/22/01, saw an amazing display of a squadron of burnt-amber lights -- each coming from different directions -- zipping about a black oval shape in a highly coordinated, interacting, maneuvering display. To the south, the Luxor Hotel's laser beamed straight up, and we could see nighthawks illuminated in the lower part of the beam, but those were not the UFOs we are describing in this report. There were no clouds. We were looking up at a 45-degree angle and to the northwest. At arm's length, the entire system appeared to cover no more than an inch. Witness #1 first saw the lights moving like a wave like a sine wave, then changing to individual burnt-amber dots in a straight, non-waving line like a string of beads, then changing to a circular formation. Then each light spread away from the others, weaving in and out from each other in highly coordinated maneuvering, each moving at the same speed but from different directions. In this last configuration, the 12 lights were all zipping around a contained oval diameter, but the startling aspect to the movements was the highly coordinated maneuvering between the objects. The entire system slowly moved north and perhaps upward until it was too far away to see. Witness #2 (this writer) saw the formation only at this latter stage, when the 12 burnt-amber lights were simultaneously zipping around the ovoid shape but each one coming from a different direction and going to a different location about this black ovoid shape. All 12 lights stopped momentarily before again zipping around in different directions and not in sequence, but all around this black shape. This was done repeatedly for about two minutes. The movements were fast, including very fast but rounded turns -- no zig-zagging. Mike Castrada, chief of the Public Affairs Office at Nellis Air Force Base, told me he has no report of this, which he would not have if it were classified, but he "wishes he were there" and that if Project Blue Book were still open, this report would probably be a case they would put into it. Castrada said that it appears we were looking at the Western part of the Nellis Test Range. Castrada said that "various FAA and Air Force radars control all that air space -- about 12,000 square miles -- from 3000 ft. about the North Las Vegas Airport to infinity, and all the way to the Utah border." Castrada said that Special Forces was there on an exercise but only from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. He said that if they were flying at night, they wouldn't have their lights on because that would defeat the purpose. He said Special Forces might have had perhaps four but not 10 to 12 planes. Witness #3 viewed the object thhe same length of time as Witness #1 but has not yet been interviewed in detail.
No
No
No
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Off
No
No
Yes
No
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No
Las Vegas
USA
3 minutes
3 minutes
36.15
-115.18
formation
NV
Occurred : 3/22/2001 00:40 (Entered as : 03/22/01 12:40) Reported: 3/23/2001 14:17 Posted: 4/1/2001 Location: Las Vegas, NV Shape: Formation Duration: 3 minutes Characteristics: There were lights on the object
12 burnt-orange lights -- each zipping from DIFFERENT directions -- maneuvered around an oval black shape.