Former Arizona governor admits seeing UFO

[DanS]

Former Arizona Governor Fife Symington has confirmed that he saw a UFO 10 years ago while governor. The UFO was in the form of an extremely large slow-flying triangle. There have been other very similar reports.

Symington, governor at the time, poo-poo'd the many reports from the public about the flying triangle. He now says that he did it because he didn't want mass hysteria to break out among the populace.

He explains that Arizona was "on the brink of hysteria" about the UFO sighting at the time, and the frenzy was building.

"I wanted people to lighten up and calm down, so I introduced a little levity. But I never felt that the overall situation was a matter of ridicule," he says.

My question is: Assuming Symington did see the object, did he do the right thing by lying to the public?

Here's a link to the article that broke the story from the Prescott Daily Courier...

http://www.prescottdailycourier.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=43304&SectionID=1&SubSectionID=&S=1

And a CNN report, which shows Symington's briefing to the press at the time...

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/tech/2007/03/22/tuchman.ufo.phoenix.lights.ktvk

And a CNN report from 1997 detailing the incident...

http://www.cnn.com/US/9706/19/ufo.lights/

And a space.com article speculating about what the triangle might be...

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/flying_triangle_040902.html

My opinion is that this is a US Air Force black heavier-than-air airship project and that this incident was part of a larger exercise done that evening. Indeed, flairs were dropped, but also the airship was flying.

[DRoseDARs]

I'd guess he saw the Aurora project, the US military's Next Big Thing just like the F-117 was for 20 some-odd years before it's public debut.

[DanS]

Wasn't the Aurora Project supposed to by hypersonic? This is something entirely the opposite. Huge and really slow.

[DRoseDARs]

From what I've heard over the years about this thing, it's supposed to be fairly nimble at slow speeds (VTOL perhaps?) while also being capable of uber-speediness.

[DanS]

But you wouldn't build something so huge to go super-sonic, would you? This thing supposedly puts any known aircraft to utter shame with regard to size.

[DRoseDARs]

I'm drawing a blank on whether or not I've ever heard about it's supposed size. Maybe the Aurora project encompasses 2 or more aircraft that represent different mission requirements: A fighter with excellent maneuverability and a larger bomber (larger to carry more payload and/or fuel) of similar airframe configuration, both capable of hypersonic flight.

[Drake Tungsten]

Why does America need a huge, slow heavier-than-air blimp?

[DRoseDARs]

To provide a cover story for a crashed alien ufo, 2007-style.

[DanS]

Perhaps for heavy lift for rapid deployment...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALRUS_HULA

[Drake Tungsten]

The only use I can think of at the moment is as a mobile listening post used to spy on the communications of Americans...

Even that doesn't really make much sense, though.

[DRoseDARs]

Actually, except for theaters involving military powers that possess fighter craft or good surface-to-air missiles, modern blimps can make for excellent theater intel platforms without risking the lives of personnel. Inflate one, send it way the Hell up in the atmosphere, and it can monitor a very wide area in relative safety. Some cities in the US are experimenting with smaller blimps to help police departments.

Edit: My posting was a little slow. Ce la vie.

[Drake Tungsten]

Dan's answer makes sense...

[DRoseDARs]

My answer has non-Wikipedia citations:

http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/blimps_lta_craft/index.php

http://www.wnbc.com/News/1471149/detail.html

Of course, both of our answers are valid. His answer occurred to me as I remembered a TV show I watch years ago that talked about the future of blimps in modern aviation.

[DanS]

Here's a good wikipedia article on the black triangles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_triangles

[DRoseDARs]

Well anyway, until I see one with my own eyes, it's all hearsay as far as I'm concerned. I find it plausible that it's a US military aircraft and very unlikely to be flown/operated by aliens. Could alien tech be involved? I'd guess no, but I won't rule out the possibility either.