Date: April 23, 2012
Time: 10:45 p.m.
I found this site looking around to see if anyone else sees things like this and thought I would share since it was weird and you so kindly asked for us to do so.
I live just east of the 202, south of the 60. Last night about 10:45 p.m. I went outside to see what all the noise was from at the IWA airport and flying very low and slow were 3 jet aircraft with all exterior lights on that had obviously just left IWA at the same time, and were in a very close line formation going east-southeast.
These were mid-sized planes and although I am an airline mechanic, I could not tell what they were, too dark, but they had lots of beacons and strobes flashing on the tail, which may not have been needed, but because they were so low.
Looking east from my second story balcony I watched them disappear behind the roofline of my apartment, still flying strangely low and slow.
A couple minutes later I saw in the direct east, just over the roofline, gold/yellow lights, one by one, light up and go out, and then the next one would do the same.
Four of them, one by one slowly on for a few seconds and then slowly off, arranged in a line going north. These lights were stationary. Then I spotted the 3 jet planes again, gaining altitude and turning northeastward towards and over where the lights had shown themselves.
The planes flew slowly, but at a few thousand feet now, still together, and northward and eventually out of my view. There was also light GA traffic coming from the north and heading straight toward where the lights had been.
During the 10 minutes this all happened there was about 6 aircraft that I could see, and then the at least 4 other unusual lights, which could not be mistaken for aircraft next to all the other traffic given the characteristics exhibited.
It gets better. The plane coming from the north passed going south, a few miles east of me, through the location in the sky of the weird lights and when it got just passed that point, red lights, 3-4 of them, independent of each other it seemed, in closer triangular formation, lit up as the plane passed in front of them, and then went dark after it passed, as if to let the light plane see it to avoid collision.
The plane made no evasive maneuver. What's really going on. Hope this helps. I am a federally certificated aircraft mechanic since 2003 and I cannot explain what I saw.
The whole thing seems to have taken place from my best judgment over the Gold Canyon area and was so low it could not have been seen from the main part of the valley. I consider myself lucky to have seen it.
When it happened, I immediately though of the "Phoenix lights" because I have seen video of it and what I saw was pretty much that.
