SAINGHIN-EN-MELANTOIS (59) 05.03.2015

On 5 March 2015, 2 witnesses traveling by car saw several successive phenomena of different shapes in the sky that they could not explain. Only 1 account was collected. It describes 3 successive observations: 1. An elongated, matte-black mass with several white lights at different heights and a visible fin. Civil air-traffic checks identified a low-flying aircraft approaching Lille-Lesquin airfield in the witness's viewing direction: flight EZY693F. The witness had specifically noted its yellow-orange tail fin (see the Flightradar record). This phenomenon is fully identified and classified A: aircraft. 2. A yellow light fairly high in the sky, in a direction close to the Moon. A check of satellite conditions using Calsky showed that this was the season when sunlight reflects from geostationary satellites in precisely that direction. However, the hypothesis is difficult to establish with certainty. This phenomenon is probably identified as a satellite reflection and classified B. 3. A cigar-shaped object similar to the first but without a fin. Civil traffic records showed no low-altitude aircraft in that direction. Because it resembled the first object, identified as an aircraft, an aircraft explanation is preferred. Its absence from civil traffic records suggests a possible military aircraft, which the source describes as consequently less illuminated than a civil aircraft. Given the low strangeness of the case, GEIPAN did not commission a military air-traffic search.