2005-09-13 - Goodyear, AZ - Unknown

Slow moving lights in the night sky.

Between 8:30pm & 8:45pm on 09/13/05 I was driving west on I-10 west of Phoenix, Az. Nearing 107th Ave. when I noticed three lights moving slowly in formation a mile or two south of I-10. I was talking with my son on the cell phone and told him I could see three aircraft in a very tight formation. The lights were very close together at exactly the same altitude and moving in a precise formation.

After a minute or two I thought I was mistaken that they must be lights on a tall building or facility in the distance as they were not moving as fast as an aircraft would move. After a few minutes I could see they were moving WSW slightly faster than the 70MPH I was driving. The aspect angle between the lights was changing and I was certain they were moving. All the lights were at exactly the same altitude.

The appearance of the lights was different from aircraft lights. They were larger and not as intense as an aircraft light. They had a different color than aircraft lights, they were not white, but had a tawny tint similar to the old incandescent sealed beam headlights on cars. These lights were diffused rather than focused. There were no red or green lights that an aircraft would have, nor any strobes near these lights at any time, they had no similarity to conventional aircraft lights. They were definitely not bright Venus in the evening sky. I have been watching Venus & Jupiter the past weeks and they were larger, brighter, lower, further south and moving in formation, I have no doubt.

I got off I-10 at Litchfield Rd and then continued south on McDowell Rd about 1/4 mile north of and parallel to I-10. While driving on McDowell at 45MPH and in a dark area with no street lights I could clearly see the aspect angle changing and the lights were moving WSW and now drawing away from me. They were about 300 to 600 feet above the ground at the same altitude and moving together. I thought it possible they were three lights on a very large aircraft.

I drove south on McDowell to Sarival and decided to pursue them, turning South on Sarival. It was very dark and a fourth light appeared behind and slightly below the other three. I did not see where it came from, it appeared suddenly. It never reached the same altitude as the other three lights and disappeared as suddenly as it appeared. I drove 2 miles south of I-10 trying to reach some open country roads where I could drive fast and get closer to the lights.

When I reached Yuma Rd. I turned west but they were getting further away, they may have been speeding up, but not moving as fast as even a slow single engine Piper or Cessna. They turned to the SW approximate compass heading 235degrees. Another of the lights disappeared suddenly leaving only two. After a another minute the remaining two lights disappeared. They did not appear to land or fly away, they were just gone.

This entire episode covered 10 or 12 miles of driving and lasted 15 to 20 minutes. I was on the phone with my son describing my observations and chase to him while it was going on.

I am a 54 year old, stable & successful business man. I was driving home my usual route, as I do at this time several times a week. I fly often and live near an Air Force base and can recognize and easily identify many types of aircraft. These were not lights that an aircraft would have, wrong color, no red or green and they were not intense enough to be aircraft lights. They I have never seen a UFO before.