[Lanny_MacDonald]

The flair story is so much bunk. There are reserves around Phoenix where training takes place, and I have seen these flares being dropped. Just last weekend my wife and I were driving to a construction meeting and we went by one of the ranges where they do exercises. Sure enough, they were dropping flares, and they were nothing like what we witnessed. I specifically asked my wife if she saw any similarity between the flares we were observing ad the lights we saw. No comparison what so ever.

Something that does not hold up on the flare scenario is the fact that flares are subject to atmospheric disturbances, like wind. They move around and do not fall in a uniform line. The Phoenix lights, and the ones we observed, didn't lose altitude. If anything, they gained altitude, and all on the same level. Flares would drop, and desend at different rates, losing the uniformity of their line. Too many things say they weren't flare. No military air traffic in the area that night and the behavior of the lights make it impossible for them to be flares.