[AERO CTL] LAMENTIN (971) 11.02.2012

An air traffic controller at Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport reported a sighting made by several people on 11 February 2012 around 23:10. A green luminous phenomenon crossed the Caribbean sky rapidly from east to west. Controllers in Guadeloupe, gendarmes on the ground and the pilots of AFR 3570 from Paris to Martinique also saw it. The source title labels the case “[Air traffic control] Lamentin (971),” while the account places the reporting controller in Martinique. GEIPAN explains that a very bright green ball crossing the sky in a few seconds immediately suggests a fireball produced by atmospheric entry of a meteoroid, termed “meteorite” parenthetically in the source, or space debris. It states that space debris enters at about 7 km/s and crosses the sky in 20 seconds to several minutes. Given the appearance and duration, GEIPAN adopted the meteoroid-entry explanation and classified the case B.