In his article Fitzgerald also notes an account of an anonymous source who claims to have been in the Air Force on active duty in Arizona at the time. I also explored this source's comments in a Februrary 2009, article "New information alleged in 1997 'Phoenix lights' UFO case."

In an online discussion forum about unconventional scientific and other topics, the source logged on in January 2009 and called himself "Topol-M" and "AL." This source stated his information was based on both first-hand knowledge and accounts directly from trusted friends and associates, apparently other Air Force personnel.

He brought some interesting information to the discussion and understanding of the Phoenix lights case. It is unclear if his information is accurate. But, it seems worthy of review.

He wrote: " … on the night of March 13, 1997, USAF personnel stationed at both Luke AFB in Glendale and Davis-Monthan AFB in Tucson were a bit scared, as something was occurring over the skies of central and southern Arizona that night, and the on-duty personnel at both bases had no idea what it was."

"That night, Luke AFB scrambled two F-16Cs from the 56th Fighter Wing, however, these aircraft were not vectored southwest of Phoenix towards the source of the lights [the flares over the Goldwater Range], but directly south towards Tucson. What is known further, is that less than 10 minutes later, a second set of F-16Cs from the 56th were also scrambled and sent southeast."

"Radio reports from the first flight of aircraft indicated something 'odd' was occurring, however the pilots never gave any indication or specifics (in the open at any rate), as to what that was."

"It was obvious to all with access that there were other aircraft in the area, with orders to drop flares. It was felt that this was indeed a 'deception' measure to keep curiosity focused on one space in the sky, as flares were never used that far north of the Goldwater training range (as any Luke personnel can tell you, if they were, there would be weekly 'Phoenix Lights' incidents)."

Topol-M/AL continued, "The next morning, wing intelligence units at both Luke and Davis-Monthan were scrambling to compile information. No one knew what had occurred the night before, but for some top officers that were summoned in during or just after the incident, there was an element of anxiety (I would not say fear, though many were disconcerted)."

"The 'hush' order took a few days to trickle down …"

"The first two aircraft, from the 56th Fighter Wing (310th Fighter Squadron), were armed only with 2x AIM-9M Sidewinder missiles and 20mm Vulcan cannons each. Once the flight was airborne, the flight leader called in that something 'odd' was occurring after he picked up a radar contact a few thousand feet below, and several miles ahead of his position. His radar was showing 'clutter' common to stand-off jamming."

"This led to two further F-16Cs from the 56th, that were being fueled and armed since the first flight was launched, being sent up. This pair, in addition to the armament as above, also carried 2x AIM-7M Sparrow medium range missiles as well."

Flight 1 leader was able to regain radar contact on something large and low that was beginning to accelerate rapidly. Flight 1 lost the contact approximately 7 miles south of Tucson, and was ordered to proceed close to the border and try to regain contact."

"Once Flight 1 lost radar contact, Flight 2 was ordered back to Luke (Flight 2 had just approached the Tucson area). Once Flight 1 was on station, attempts were made to re-establish radar contact to no avail. After 10 minutes or so, Flight 1 was ordered back to Luke."

"Further scramble of aircraft was initiated from Nellis AFB, Nevada (prior to the Phoenix sighting) and Holloman AFB, New Mexico (around 10 minutes after the Flight 1 scramble from Luke). F-16s from Nellis, no word on aircraft type from Holloman (at the time it was the only F-117A 'Stealth Fighter' base, with the Luftwaffe having a training squadron of Tornado aircraft, neither would have been used on an intercept mission)."

Topol-M/AL also noted, "Towers at several locations had tapes of the 'event.' Radar at Luke and Davis-Monthan were picking up low level 'noise' on several frequencies, similar to what had happened to Flight 1. This 'noise' was consistent with active wide-spectrum jamming."

"It was highly unusual for this to occur in an area that did not have that type of (jamming) training environment (nearest place this was done was at the Nellis AFB range)."

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