LARGE MILITARY BLIMP or TOP SECRET MILITARY PROJECT: Another common theory is that experimental government aircraft are responsible for the Phoenix Lights. Supporters of this theory believe that a very large, silent surveillance blimp or top-secret aircraft flew over Arizona and that diversionary flares were dropped by the military in an attempt to divert the attention of whoever was out on that clear evening gazing at Halle-Bopp comet.

Some skeptics may be referring to the Ascender project, which is not top-secret at all. The Ascender is a semi-autonomous V-shaped blimp that can hover in near space to perform high-altitude reconnaissance and relay battlefield communications. In 2004 (seven years after the event took place), John Powell, founder of JP Aerospace, told MSNBC.com "The full-size station in our grand vision is 2 miles across, but that's down the road a bit." No such blimp existed in 1997 and the largest size to date is no bigger than a passenger jet, much smaller than witnesses described.

When considering this implausible theory, one must also consider many obvious questions; Are we supposed to believe the military would fly an enormous blimp a mile or so across (the enormous size was a consistent descriptive in hundreds of eye-witness reports) right over the city at extremely low altitude, endangering millions of citizens on the ground and in the air, rather than fly a course somewhere over the thousands of square miles of uninhabited desert surrounding Phoenix, out of the public eye? If this was indeed a "top secret" blimp, why would they fly it at low altitude right over a city in full public view? If they flew it over uninhabited areas they wouldn't have to bother with diversionary flares. Anyway, you could never fly a blimp of this size with accuracy at low altitude as it would by highly susceptible to winds and convective currents.

There are other holes to this theory. As a licensed private pilot with a complete understanding of air space regulations I can tell you that the military is subject to the same FAA rules as all other pilots, except in the case of a national emergency, such as what happened on September 11th 2001, when all non-military U.S. flights were grounded. On March 13th 1997, it was business as usual and no flights were grounded. The only other exception as far as FAA rules go are areas of restricted airspace designated exclusively to military operations that are off-limits to non-military aircraft. No such restrictions ever existed over Sky Harbor Airport.

The bottom line is whatever flew over Phoenix that night severely violated Class B airspace when it entered without an ATC clearance and flew right across the final approach course of Sky Harbor Airport, one of the busiest airports in the country. It also went undetected by radar which completely kills the blimp idea and all other conventional aircraft for that matter. Finally, what's so top secret about an enormous blimp compared to our stealth technology, which is already public knowledge? The X45, X47, Scramjet and DARPA'S Slingshot projects as well as other cutting edge projects are already in the public domain. While some of the capabilities of these new aircraft and weapon systems are still classified, they are certainly visible to the public.

CESSNAS FLYING IN FORMATION (STAGED HOAX): After the Phoenix Lights event, a young man came forward and claimed that he viewed the Phoenix Lights using a Celestron Telescope and saw they were a fleet of Cessnas flying in formation. Despite thousands of witness reports to the contrary, local media focused on this singular report. First of all, to suggest that you could follow a moving Cessna with a Telescope is ridiculous. I personally own a telescope and there is no way you could follow a moving aircraft and focus in on it, especially at night. Based on this statement alone I would seriously question anything this witness had to say.

First you have to convince me that a group of pilots would be stupid enough and brazen enough to think they could pull off such an elaborate hoax without being caught. Every pilot knows that penetrating Class B airspace (a 30-mile protective veil that surrounds every major airport in the country) without a proper ATC clearance, would get them into serious trouble. There is no way a fleet of Cessnas could fly silently, even with the engines running at idle, and avoid radar detection.

A fleet of aircraft entering Class B airspace without communication or clearance would be considered a serious threat and they most certainly would have been forced down by military pilots. Once on the ground the perpetrators would be arrested, heavily fined and face possible prosecution and prison time. The FAA would permanently suspend their licenses due to the magnitude of the crime. They would be thrashed by the media and lynched by the public.