CASTRES (81) 20.09.2015

Around 20:00–20:15 on Sunday 20 September 2015, a witness on his terrace in Castres (81) saw an object apparently fall vertically at high speed through a clear sky and disappear into the landscape. He thought a supersonic aircraft was falling. A few seconds later he saw an object climb rapidly towards the zenith. Part seemed to detach and descend “horizontally”, the wording used in the source. He believed both sightings concerned the same object. The phenomena were orange or grey and made no sound. The investigation lacked precise angular measurements; appearance and disappearance azimuths for each phase; complete information about possible contrails; the duration of each phase; and details about the nature and extent of movements described as forming obtuse angles. See the investigation report. The only plausible explanation retained was aircraft contrails seen in the setting sunlight. However, the missing information prevented a firm conclusion in its favour. GEIPAN classified the case C: a phenomenon unidentifiable on the available evidence, which was insufficient for a well-supported assessment.