BAZIEGE (31) 14.09.2012

On 14 September 2012 at about 06:25, a witness saw a blue triangular object surrounded by bright points in a clear sky for 5 seconds. It was stationary, then seemed suddenly to fall and abruptly go out. No other account was collected. GEIPAN found that the sighting did not resemble common misidentifications. The sky chart showed no conspicuous celestial object to the west that could cause an illusion. CalSky listed no matching satellite or satellite group. At such an early hour, a drone or recreational craft seemed extremely unlikely. The description also differed greatly from an aircraft, although one could have been in the witness’s field of view in that direction at the time. Météociel records for Toulouse-Blagnac show a substantial westerly wind. Above Montgiscard, aircraft preparing to land at Blagnac align with the runway’s northwest axis. An aircraft approaching head-on before turning northwest could have appeared as a set of lights visible only before the turn (see map). GEIPAN considers this last explanation barely plausible and too weak to retain without corroboration from air-traffic records, photographs or another witness. The case is classified C for lack of corroborating information.