[AERO AOM] de CAYENNE (973) vers ORLY (94) 26.08.1998

GEIPAN continues to publish its full archives on www.geipan.fr. Older cases originally classified A, B, C or D are being reexamined to improve their conclusions. New software and accumulated investigative experience sometimes produce new findings or a change of classification. This case, formerly [AERO AOM] LAT 27.58, LON −33.35 (INT) 26.08.1998 and classified D, was recently reexamined. On 26 August 1998 at 00:32, the crew of a DC10 flying from Cayenne to Orly saw 6 intensely bright points move very rapidly along a straight horizontal path, leaving a long luminous trail. The sighting lasted approximately 10 seconds. Only the captain submitted an account, written on 28 August and later forwarded to SEPRA, but 4 of the 5 witnesses supplied sketches, all attached. GEIPAN considered this probably a fireball entering the atmosphere and breaking into a procession of meteors (see the investigation report). The horizontal path suggested a grazing fireball, but data were insufficient for calculations distinguishing passage through the atmosphere from skimming it and leaving again, as the source describes the 1972 US meteor. The duration, magnitude and angular span also resembled a grazing-fireball event in October 1990. White colour, a straight path, very high speed and bright trails all fitted. GEIPAN noted that such a rare and exceptional event might be expected to attract more reports, but its brief 10-second occurrence over the middle of the Atlantic, far from ground detection stations and visual observers, probably meant nobody else saw it. Evidential support was good, with a detailed account of initial and final positions and physical appearance, including magnitude. Accounts from the other crew members were nevertheless absent, and no photograph or video was taken, as often happens with a sighting this brief. GEIPAN classified the case B: meteoroids.