INTRODUCTION
On March 13, 1997 something unusual happened over the state of Arizona. An unusual formation of lights was seen to fly over the entire state. The question is, "Who, or what, were these lights?" If you ask any member of the public who saw them, you get mixed answers. Those with a paranoid and/or "ET Believer" mentality, it was a top secret government project or aliens coming to visit us. For those that are more skeptical, it appears that the objects were something strange but not extraterrestrial.
I got involved in a discussion group in America On-line. Here the ETH'ers rubbed the skeptics noses in this story. There were some eerie videos shot from most of Phoenix, which showed these lights "hovering" over the city. I was curious and went onto the Internet to find the whole story. What I found was not the whole story but lots of little pieces scattered about. I also discovered how poorly UFO researchers investigate these sightings. They seem to be more interested in not finding an answer. They do not use basic investigative techniques that could help clear up much of witness's testimonies. They also do not include a lot of information for which you are to check the facts upon. I contacted Larry Robinson and asked him to look into the matter. He stated he felt they were fire balloons. While I thanked him for his efforts, I was not satisfied with this answer since it left too many openings. I was more interested by a brief e-mail message I had received following my inquiry to the two Astronomy clubs in the area. One had no information but the other stated that one of their members had viewed them in his telescope and saw AIRPLANES! With that information in hand, I began to look at what the witnesses saw in a different light. Could it be a matter of misperception of an ordinary event that caused such a ruckus?
I have come up with some conclusions that, while not answering the question completely, satisfies most of what the people in Arizona saw that night.