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Why Flares Can Look Like Huge UFOs
Flares can look like silent structured objects when distance, darkness and terrain hide the ordinary source.
On this page
- How parachute flares behave at night
- Why lines of lights become one imagined craft
- Where flare explanations usually break down
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Introduction
Many dramatic night-time UFO reports are not reports of clearly seen objects, but of bright lights viewed without reliable clues about distance, size or altitude. In military training areas, parachute illumination flares are one of the most important conventional explanations for this type of sighting. When observed from many kilometres away, especially after dark, flares can appear to hover silently, remain in formation, and even seem to outline the edge of an enormous craft. This does not explain every famous UFO report, nor does it account for every witness description. However, it is a well-understood optical mechanism that has featured prominently in investigations of several widely publicised incidents, most notably the later phase of the 1997 Phoenix Lights event. [Deseret News]deseret.comNews Flares, not UFOs, caused light show, military saysDeseret NewsFlares, not UFOs, caused light show, military saysJuly 26, 1997 — 26 Jul 1997 — Military flares - rather than UFOs - might be…
How parachute flares behave at night
Military illumination flares are designed to light large areas of ground during training or combat. Unlike defensive aircraft countermeasure flares, illumination flares are suspended beneath small parachutes, allowing them to descend slowly while producing an extremely bright, steady light for several minutes. Their purpose is to remain visible rather than disappear quickly. [Wikipedia]WikipediaOpen source on wikipedia.org.
Several characteristics make these flares surprisingly easy to mistake for something extraordinary when viewed from a distance:
- Slow descent: At long range, the gradual fall is difficult to detect, making the light appear stationary.
- Exceptional brightness: The flare itself is often far brighter than surrounding stars, reducing nearby visual detail and making it difficult to judge depth.
- Little or no audible sound: Sound from the aircraft may never reach distant observers, especially if the aircraft have already departed.
- Long burn time: A flare can remain visible long enough for observers to believe they are watching a hovering object rather than a descending pyrotechnic device. [Wikipedia]WikipediaOpen source on wikipedia.org.
Human vision is particularly poor at estimating distance in darkness. Without familiar landmarks or visible terrain, the brain tends to infer a single large object rather than several unrelated lights suspended far away.
Why lines of lights become one imagined craft
The impression of a giant structured craft usually emerges from perception rather than from any physical object joining the lights together.
When several bright lights appear in roughly the same direction, observers naturally look for a pattern. This tendency, known in psychology as pattern completion, encourages the brain to connect isolated points into a single coherent shape. If the sky between the lights is dark, many people report perceiving an invisible triangular or V-shaped body linking them.
Perspective strengthens the illusion. Lights spread across several kilometres can appear much closer together when viewed from dozens of kilometres away. Camera lenses, especially consumer video cameras used at night, compress depth even further, making separated flares appear to occupy one rigid formation.
The result is a convincing impression that a single enormous craft is present, even though each light may actually be an independent flare descending beneath its own parachute. Investigators have repeatedly noted that once observers decide they are looking at one object, later memories often preserve that interpretation even if the individual lights behaved independently. [Wikipedia]WikipediaPhoenix LightsPhoenix Lights
The Phoenix Lights as the best-known example
The flare explanation is most closely associated with the later phase of the Phoenix Lights incident on 13 March 1997.
Military records and later statements from participants indicate that A-10 aircraft operating on training exercises over the Barry M. Goldwater Range released LUU-2 series illumination flares. These flares would have been visible from the Phoenix metropolitan area despite being many kilometres away. [Deseret News]deseret.comNews Flares, not UFOs, caused light show, military saysDeseret NewsFlares, not UFOs, caused light show, military saysJuly 26, 1997 — 26 Jul 1997 — Military flares - rather than UFOs - might be…
Investigators pointed to several observations that closely match known flare behaviour:
- the lights remained nearly stationary for extended periods;
- individual lights disappeared one after another rather than simultaneously;
- the sequence matched flares descending behind the Sierra Estrella mountains from the viewpoint of Phoenix;
- later recordings of military flare exercises produced remarkably similar visual patterns. [Wikipedia+2Deseret News]WikipediaPhoenix LightsPhoenix Lights
This explanation addresses the well-known videos showing a row of bright lights over the south-western horizon. It has become one of the most frequently cited examples of how ordinary military activity can generate an apparently extraordinary sighting.
Why the lights seem to vanish
One feature that many witnesses regard as mysterious is the way lights appear to extinguish individually.
For parachute flares, there are two ordinary mechanisms.
The first is that the flare simply burns out after completing its designed illumination period.
The second, and often more convincing, is that the flare passes behind distant terrain while still burning. If a mountain ridge lies between the observer and the flare range, each descending flare disappears at a slightly different moment depending on its position. To someone unaware of the intervening landscape, the lights appear to switch off one by one in mid-air. Investigators analysing the Phoenix recordings found this sequence consistent with the Sierra Estrella mountains blocking progressively lower flares from view. [Wikipedia]WikipediaPhoenix LightsPhoenix Lights
Where flare explanations usually break down
Although flares explain many reports of stationary or slowly descending lights, they are not a universal explanation.
A flare explanation becomes less convincing when reliable evidence demonstrates characteristics inconsistent with parachute illumination, including:
- rapid horizontal manoeuvres or sharp turns;
- sustained high-speed travel across large distances;
- coordinated movement inconsistent with independent descent;
- observations made well away from military training activity;
- multiple independent sensor systems recording behaviour incompatible with flare physics.
The Phoenix Lights themselves illustrate this limitation. Many researchers distinguish between the later stationary lights, which are widely attributed to military flares, and earlier reports from the same evening describing a large moving V-shaped formation travelling across Arizona. Whether those earlier reports represent aircraft flying in formation, misperception, another conventional explanation or something genuinely unidentified remains debated. The flare explanation was never intended to account for every observation made that night. [Wikipedia]WikipediaPhoenix LightsPhoenix Lights
Why flare cases remain influential in UFO debates
Military flare cases continue to occupy an important place in UFO investigations because they demonstrate how easily ordinary technology can produce extraordinary perceptions under the right viewing conditions.
The lesson is not that witnesses are dishonest or irrational. Rather, it is that human perception relies heavily on context, and night-time skies remove many of the cues that normally allow people to judge distance, size and motion accurately. A handful of extremely bright, slowly descending lights can therefore be experienced as a silent craft of immense size.
For investigators, flare explanations provide a reminder that identifying an object requires more than matching its appearance. The surrounding terrain, military activity, viewing angle, atmospheric conditions and timing all matter. When those factors align, illumination flares can create one of the most persuasive—and most misunderstood—illusions in the history of famous UFO sightings. [Wikipedia+2Deseret News]WikipediaPhoenix LightsPhoenix Lights
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Endnotes
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Source: deseret.com
Title: News Flares, not UFOs, caused light show, military says
Link: https://www.deseret.com/1997/7/26/19325702/flares-not-ufos-caused-light-show-military-says/Source snippet
Deseret NewsFlares, not UFOs, caused light show, military saysJuly 26, 1997 — 26 Jul 1997 — Military flares - rather than UFOs - might be...
Published: July 26, 1997
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Source: Wikipedia
Title: Phoenix Lights
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights -
Source: Wikipedia
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flare -
Source: planeandpilotmag.com
Title: the phoenix lights
Link: https://planeandpilotmag.com/the-phoenix-lights/Source snippet
20 Sept 2022 — The most popular and intriguing explanation to emerge is that the lights were emitted by extraterrestrial spacecraft.Read...
Additional References
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Source: abcnews.com
Link: https://abcnews.com/Technology/phoenix-ufo-mystery-solved-lights-high-school-football/story?id=14884994Source snippet
Phoenix UFO Mystery Solved: What Were Those Lights?On the night of Oct. 28, four bright lights were seen and videotaped during a high sch...
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Source: facebook.com
Link: https://www.facebook.com/welcometoaz/posts/on-march-13-1997-thousands-of-people-across-arizona-reported-seeing-a-series-of-/1506930288109465/Source snippet
On March 13, 1997, thousands of people across Arizona...Military Flares: The U.S. Air Force suggested that the stationary lights seen ov...
Published: March 13, 1997
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xIpRzr0XGMSource snippet
Phoenix Lights flares military illusion UFO The UnXplained: The Phoenix Lights Phenomenon is STILL UNEXPLAINABLE (Season 5) | History HIS...
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Source: discoveryuk.com
Title: the phoenix lights phenomenon an unsolved ufo mystery
Link: https://www.discoveryuk.com/mysteries/the-phoenix-lights-phenomenon-an-unsolved-ufo-mystery/Source snippet
The Phoenix Lights Phenomenon: An Unsolved UFO Mystery14 May 2024 — Some theories suggest that the V-shaped formation responsible for the...
Published: May 2024
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Source: youtube.com
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2j0GeHlm-8Source snippet
Largest UFO Sighting in History - What Actually Happened?...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: Largest UFO Sighting in History
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUTJrZj_IGwSource snippet
US Military Leaked UFO [FLiR]({{ 'flir/' | relative_url }}) Footage Afghanistan Explained Parachute Flares...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: The UFO Story you HAVEN’T heard
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqAyjDK_06ISource snippet
The US Department of War released this footage of an alleged UFO but it’s actually a parachute flare...
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Source: youtube.com
Title: US Military Leaked UFO FLi R Footage Afghanistan Explained Parachute Flares
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnK61JyoXI4Source snippet
The UFO Story you HAVEN'T heard...
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