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April 26, 2008
UFO Alert: FAA Silences Air Traffic
Controllers and Hoax Theory has Problems
By Bill Knell
On
Monday, April 21, 2008, odd red lights appeared in the sky over
Phoenix, Arizona. Video and photos were taken and Air Traffic
Controllers in the main tower at Sky Harbor International Airport saw
them. The FFA says that the lights did not appear on radar and weren’t
a threat to any air traffic, so no action was taken. However, the FAA
has issued a statement saying that they will not allow the Air Traffic
Controllers to talk about what they saw.
According
to regional FAA Spokesperson Ian Gregor, it’s against agency policy to
allow the ATCs to discuss what they saw. The Phoenix New Times reported
the story about the silencing of the Sky Harbor Air Traffic
Controllers. They have already filed an official request to receive any
documents or recordings that contain statements about the lights by the
ATCs.
When
asked what the FAA plans to do about the appearance of the lights in
the sky over Phoenix on Monday night, FAA Spokesperson Ian Gregor said,
"There is nothing to investigate." This is in direct opposition to the
FAA policy to investigate anything and everything strange that might be
reported in the sky over the USA. That policy has been in place since
the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01.
Just
a day after the lights were spotted, the Arizona Republic newspaper
reported that Phoenix resident Lino Mailo claimed his neighbor launched
several helium balloons with flares on them. Lilo says the balloons
went up in the sky from his neighbor’s yard around 8pm on Monday night.
A Phoenix Police Helicopter Pilot also says that he saw what he
believed were helium balloons with flares hanging from them. Despite
these claims, there are some problems with the helium balloons
explanation.
After
hearing the hoax story, I contacted a friend who lives in Phoenix. He
agreed to try and reach Mailo or his neighbor. Since the article came
out on Tuesday, attempts to contact Lino Mailo have failed. He does not
answer his door and his neighbor wasn’t home when my friend stopped by
on two occasions. In fact, people living two houses down from Mailo say
that they know Lino’s next store neighbor and he was not home on Monday
night. They claim they were out in their own backyard that evening and
would have seen balloons with flares being launched. They also agreed
to ask him about the flare story when they next see or speak with him.
By
contrast, a number of witnesses have come forward to say that jets took
off from Luke Air Force Base on Monday night. Luke still claims they
had no aircraft in the sky that evening. Further, I asked Kelly Atwood,
a professional photographic software expert, to take a look at the
video and photos from 4/21/08 lights event. She has extensive
experience examining UFO photos for legitimacy and has been able to
identify many hoaxes involving balloons, dry cleaning bags and flares.
Kelly
says that the lights were too bright and the wrong color to be flares.
She also states that the video does not show the normal affect that
flares exhibit as they burn. Instead, the lights resemble objects that
would have been much larger with a steady source of illumination. Kelly
lives in phoenix, but was working on Monday night and didn’t see the
lights.
Apart
from the holes in the hoax story, the FAA issues and Luke Air Force
Base denials that jets were in the air when residents living near Luke
say jets taking off, there are other things that point to the fact that
strange lights have been back over Phoenix for some time. All told,
there have been hundreds of reports about strange lights and
unidentified objects in the Phoenix area since the original March 13,
1997 infamous ‘Phoenix Lights’ event. Many of the reports include
photos, video, and come from credible witnesses.
Authors Website: http://www.ufoguy.com
Authors Bio: Bill Knell is a popular Speaker, Author and Consultant
with eclectic interests. Best known for his Paranormal Research and
Seminars, Bill also excels in the area of personal, business and
financial advice and management. Featured in the Wall Street Journal,
Omni, the L.A. Times, Toronto Star and NY Times; seen on CNN, NBC
Nightly News, Fox Television and many Cable Networks; heard on Mancow,
Bob and Tom and Howard Stern; consultant to films like Independence
Day, Men in Black, the Fifth Element and World of the Worlds.
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