© YoutubeThe unidentified lights reported by several witnesses on Tuesday can be seen in this image, a screenshot taken from a video of the event posted on YouTube.
The strange lights area residents reported seeing in the night sky this week were actually coming from aircraft used in training at the Grayling Air Gunnery Range, said Patricia Luna, executive assistant at the Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center.
Nineteen Air National Guard units from seven different states are participating in Northern Strike 2012, "a large-scale training exercise that emphasizes air-to-ground operations," according to a Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs news release.
Luna said the training, including night and day flights, began Monday, July 9, and is to continue through Friday, July 20.
The lights were spotted by several people throughout Northern Michigan late Tuesday, prompting several calls to CCE Central Dispatch which covers Charlevoix, Cheboygan and Emmet counties.
John Cassidy of Petoskey described the lights as a "long bright orange glow, resembling fireworks or an orange flare."
Cassidy said the glow didn't last long, but when it went away, two objects with whitish flashing lights appeared, before quickly disappearing.
Mary Albertson, office manager at central dispatch, said the calls began around 10:15 p.m. and continued to about 11:30 p.m., and came in from Mackinaw City to Indian River, Harbor Springs to Petoskey.
Comment: Here is the original article of this event. So, supposedly, those lights were military aircraft. Maybe the FAA and the military should communicate more as to where their aircraft are since the FAA was quoted in the original article as saying there was no unusual activity in the area. Damage control?