Fife Symington III on UFOs

rel="tag">Fife Symington III, former governor of
Arizona, is planning a press conference to discuss UFOs.  He
plans to discuss the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Lights">Phoenix
Lights incident.  Symington is a former Air Force
pilot, which he feels lends him some credibility.  



href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/09/simington.ufocommentary/index.html">Symington:
I saw a UFO in the Arizona sky

By Fife Symington

Special to CNN

11/9/2007



(CNN) -- In 1997, during my second term as governor of Arizona, I saw
something that defied logic and challenged my reality.



I witnessed a massive delta-shaped, craft silently navigate over Squaw
Peak, a mountain range in Phoenix, Arizona. It was truly breathtaking.
I was absolutely stunned because I was turning to the west looking for
the distant Phoenix Lights.



To my astonishment this apparition appeared; this dramatically large,
very distinctive leading edge with some enormous lights was traveling
through the Arizona sky.



As a pilot and a former Air Force Officer, I can definitively say that
this craft did not resemble any man-made object I'd ever seen. And it
was certainly not high-altitude flares because flares don't fly in
formation.


In the remainder of his article, he explains that he
contacted the Government for a possible explanation.  He got
the runaround, at first, then was told the Air Force claimed
responsibility; they stated they had dropped flares in the area.
 



Just in case anyone is tempted to think he is a kook, he is going to
bring along "14 former high-ranking military and government officials
from seven countries" to support his assertions.



I've never been in the military, never piloted a airplane, and I've
never seen a UFO.  However, I have had a great many people
tell me things that, at first, seem as though they must be delusions or
hallucinations.



Sometimes, the people saying these things have no other indication of
possible mental illness.  Usually, it is not possible to make
an objective determination about the veracity of the outlandish tales.
 Sometimes, though, it is possible to obtain verification.
 



On a few occasions, I have been able to obtain verification of reports
that, absent proof, would seem to have no chance of credibility.
 Of course, I cannot give any examples.  On the other
hand, I can say that mental health professionals eventually learn to
suspend judgment about at least some seemingly outlandish reports.



You simply cannot draw any firm, useful conclusions based upon any one
instance of possible symptomatology.



Tim Russert ought to know that.



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Sometimes, the people saying these things have no other indication of possible mental illness. Usually, it is not possible to make an objective determination about the veracity of the outlandish tales.

I'm not sure why crazy and lying are the two explanations that immediately come to mind. Humans are so readily susceptible to the misperception of anomalous visual cues that simple misidentification of natural phenomena must be one of the most commonplace reasons for UFO sightings. After all, three points of light in the sky can be mistaken for a triangular aircraft, especially if they are travelling synchronously.

You simply cannot draw any firm, useful conclusions based upon any one instance of possible symptomatology.

And therefore, Occam's razor comes into play, demoting alien visitation as an explanation to the desperate category.

All such sightings would be easily confirmed by radar. Unless of course the observers were doing a bad job of observing by misconstruing what they were seeing.

A light in the sky can be anywhere between 30 feet away to 13 billion light years away. If this guy claims he can accurately range a light by eyesight alone, then he's an idiot.

He doesn't state this, but I'm sure this was after sunset, at the end of his day, when his eye muscles were tired. Funny thing how nobody sees UFOs in the hours before morning twilight.

I used to work at a facility near Fort Irwin in California. In night exercises, aircraft dropped yellow flares which, thanks to the clear dry desert air, clearly illuminated the aircraft dropping them, even though the aircraft had their nav lights off. Anyone with good binoculars could see the planes. Still, the local idiots kept reporting UFOs they viewed while sitting in law chairs with their beer coolers. (Think lawn chair, beer, UFO reports, lawn chair, beer, UFO reports. Conclude bored, drunk, stupid, easily amused.)