2002-08-15 - Wickenburg, AZ - Light

Three lights over central Arizona desert at work in the darkness.

I was traveling on Rte 60 west from Wickenburg AZ at 12:30 am on 8/15/02 on a clear, warm night. After about 12 miles, I saw up ahead what looked like a small plane making "touch and go' landings. There were three lights and the craft made what seemed like approaches and barely touched the ground and then arose again into the sky. It took a bit to realize that there is NOTHING out in the desert there; no habitation and certainly no airport. As I drew closer, the lights would change from a V formation into one single light, then into another formation or another alignment. I saw that it would go over the road to the right (north) and then go very low to the ground, swing up and over the road again and hover on the south side then return in the same pattern. I crossed the road after a sweep and looked out of my window and up about 500' to see the three lights havering at about l0:00 south. The lights were very white and bright, narrow in focus and appeared to be in a southerly direction and there was no sound at all coming from it. As I just passed it, the light nearest me started a slow turn in my direction and I kept on going, not frightened or threatened but nervous and with the purposeful message that "they" were working and I should keep on going. I could not tell if it was one craft that morfed into shapes or if it was a configuration of three different lights. My instinct says that there were three lights but I have no proof. i continued on the road but stopped up ahead and the craft(s) continued to go in the same pattern and did so as I then drove off and watched in my rear view mirror. I would approximate that there was a total of 8 or 9 passes that I observed during the + or - 1/2 hour that the event took place. I cannot stress how desolate and uninhabitated the area in question is. It is desert land and not an open range.