IncidentPhoenix Lights (13 March 1997)

aka Phoenix Lights (13 March 1997)

A V-shaped formation of lights was observed by thousands of witnesses crossing Arizona over a 106-minute period on 13 March 1997; Gov. Fife Symington publicly mocked the event in 1997 and acknowledged in 2007 that he had seen it himself.

phenomenologically-open Two distinct events. The 10 p.m. lights are adequately explained as A-10 flares over the Barry Goldwater Range; the early-evening V-formation reported by thousands, including the sitting governor, is not. The status follows the first event only.

status history (1)

2026-06-09 · unannotated → phenomenologically-open — initial annotation sweep (Epic J.F4)

A reconstruction diagram of the V-formation of lights reported over Phoenix, Arizona, on 13 March 1997. Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · Codyorb · 2018

Phoenix, Arizona, photographed from the ISS — the metro area where tens of thousands of witnesses reported the lights. Wikipedia Commons · Public domain · NASA Johnson Space Center · Take

Beginning at approximately 19:30 local time on 13 March 1997, a triangular or V-shaped formation of lights was reported moving south from the Nevada-Arizona border across Arizona and into Sonora, Mexico. Reports came from thousands of witnesses across an arc more than 300 miles long. A separate set of stationary lights over the South Mountains south of Phoenix was visible from approximately 22:00 to 22:30 and was filmed by multiple news outlets. The Maryland Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Squadron, deployed to Davis-Monthan AFB, later confirmed it had dropped flares from A-10 Warthogs during a training exercise that night — an explanation that accounts for the second, stationary set of lights but not for the earlier, moving V-formation. Gov. Fife Symington held a press conference 24 June 1997 mocking the event with an aide in an alien costume; in March 2007 he publicly stated he had personally observed the V-formation and considered it ‘otherworldly’ or ‘beyond explanation.’”

Notable & intriguing

Arizona Governor Fife Symington III, a former U.S. Air Force pilot, stated in a 18 March 2007 interview that he had personally witnessed the V-formation: ‘It was enormous and inexplicable. Who knows where it came from? A lot of people saw it, and I saw it too.’

CNN interview, 18 March 2007; Symington op-ed, The Daily Courier (Prescott), 22 March 2007
The Maryland Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Squadron, then deployed to Davis-Monthan AFB, confirmed dropping LUU-2B/B flares during Operation Snowbird that night; the flares account for the stationary 22:00 lights but not for the 19:30–21:00 moving V-formation, which was observed and tracked across more than 300 miles.

Maj. Lewis Walker, Maryland ANG, statement to Phoenix New Times, June 1997; Operation Snowbird training records
Luke AFB radar did not detect the V-formation; American Airlines Capt. Larry Campbell, flying overhead at the time and contacted by ATC, also reported no radar return — but did report seeing the lights visually from his cockpit.

Phoenix TRACON tape, 13 March 1997; The Phoenix Lights: A Skeptic’s Discovery That We Are Not Alone, Lynne Kitei MD, 2004

Public-record items already documented about this subject. Folklore is labelled. Sources cited where the specificity warrants it.

Suggested watching

The Phoenix Lights — We Are Not Alone (2005) documentary

dir. Lynne D. Kitei · Prime / various · 1h 35m

Kitei's first-person account, her own video, witness interviews, and Symington's 2007 retraction of his 1997 dismissal.

essential — Kitei's documentary is the canonical treatment
60 Minutes II — Phoenix Lights (1997) episode

dir. various · CBS / various · 13m

The original 1997 broadcast-news coverage that put the event on the national record.

primary source — the news cycle as it happened

Appears in interpretive theories

Black-projects / mundane-tech hypothesis — cites as evidence

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