June 20, 1997: Phoenix Lights Images Analysis - Jim Dilettoso

Art Bell welcomes Jim Dilettoso of Village Labs in Tempe, Arizona, whose computer analysis of the Phoenix Lights footage has been running on CNN around the clock. Dilettoso brings credentials spanning concert production technology, NASA imaging, military flight simulators, and Hollywood special effects to his examination of the March 13th sightings. He describes the investigation identifying four separate events that evening, beginning at 8:16 p.m. when witnesses reported a massive V-shaped object moving slowly over central Phoenix.

Dilettoso explains that his team triangulated multiple videos using 3D topographical maps from the U.S. Geological Survey, loading them into AutoCAD and 3D Studio Max to establish precise positions for the lights. Witnesses described the object as so close they could hit it with a ball, taking two to three minutes to pass overhead. One former military pilot estimated its size at a square mile.

The program grows contentious when MUFON state field investigator Richard Motzer calls in to challenge the 10 p.m. footage, arguing it shows military flares based on descent rates matching the Mark 45 flare's three-minute burn time. Dilettoso counters that optical waveform analysis and a written report from a covert operations flare manufacturer found no match. Art presses both investigators to produce definitive military confirmation one way or the other.