Three Teen Girls Shaken by Sighting of Object With Lights Moving "Side to Side"

Date of Sighting: January 1, 2006
Time of Sighting: 8 PM CST
Duration of Sighting: Unknown
Date Reported: January 1, 2006
Location of Sighting: Arlington, Texas (Near Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport)
Latitude:  32.9 Degrees N
Longitude: 97.0 Degrees W
Number of Witnesses: Three
Number of Witnesses Interviewed: One (Father of One Witness)
Weather: Cloudy Skies - Cloud Bases About 2,000 Feet. Visibility 5 Miles (Due to Grass Fires in Area.). 

Description (As Described by Father of One Witness):
This evening my 17 year-old daughter and a couple of her girlfriends observed an object "unlike anything they had ever seen" in the sky over southwest Arlington Texas. They were very excited and shaken immediately following the incident. She called me immediately to report it. The sighting occurred at around 8:00 pm, just a little north of midway between Interstate 20 and Interstate 30 over the west side of Arlington. It was last seen moving east, towards Dallas, which is approximately 20 miles away. There is a Dallas Cowboys game in Irving tonight (east and north of the sighting location), so the first thing I thought of was the possibility that it was an advertisement blimp; however, Irving is also about 20 miles away. Objects in the sky over Irving are not visible in our area. We are under the landing path zone for the southwest quadrant of Dallas-Ft. Worth airport, so the people in this area, including my daughter and her friends, see thousands of planes in the night sky. Also worthy of mention: There was a large grass fire west of the Dallas Ft Worth metroplex today, so there is a bit of a smoky haze in the area. As a result, visibility is fairly low (I would guess about two to five miles). According to the girls, the object had lights that moved from side to side... most definitely unlike any airplane lights they had ever seen. My daughter attempted to get a photo with her digital camera, but said that the quality of the photo turned out very poor. I have not seen it, but I will notify this site or forward it if it look like something interesting. I went to the computer immediately after receiving her call and did a quick search of the local news headlines to see if there were any corresponding reports. I did not see anything, but I found this website, so I decided to send a message to report the incident.

Investigator's Notes: The father states that his daughter and her two friends were quite shaken by this sighting. The sighting was reported within two hours after it occurred. (This supports the emotion surrounding the incident.)  Whatever was sighted was likely flying quite low given the low clouds and reduced visibility in the area.  The father stated that the Dallas Cowboys were playing football at home that night, but did not believe that the girls sighted a blimp.  I requested a copy of the  digital photo taken by one of the witnesses, but did not receive a reply to my request.  The father indicated that he thought that the photo was of poor quality.  This sighting falls into the unidentified category.