HAGUENAU (67) 09.05.2018

On 9 May 2018 at about 19:30, a witness at a rugby ground was intrigued by a very bright “cylindrical ball” and a black ball crossing the sky. The latter was described as coming from the northeast toward the southwest. No sound was heard. He watched for about 1 minute before losing sight of the UAP and took three photographs. GEIPAN received no other account. GEIPAN describes him as both enthusiastic and troubled, strongly wanting an explanation—or, the source asks, a lack of explanation. He had seen other strange things without reporting them to GEIPAN, was informed about UFOs and had high hopes because he now had photographs. The analysis suggests a mundane explanation might disappoint him. The speed and photographic appearance strongly suggest an airliner. In the unzoomed photograph, comparable to naked-eye vision, the aircraft is a typical bright point without a contrail; aircraft do not always produce contrails. GEIPAN suggests that zooming, or exceptionally sharp natural vision, revealed an elongated wingless appearance and created the anomaly. Many GEIPAN cases show sunlight reflected only by the fuselage, making aircraft look cigar-shaped. This happens particularly when sunlight strikes transversely and only the thin wing edge faces the Sun. Here the Sun’s azimuth of 282° is perpendicular to the reported northeast–southwest path. GEIPAN identifies the aircraft. The attached reconstruction shows a northeast-to-southwest flight at 19:29, the photo time, whose apparent movement from the rugby ground matches the account. IPACO analysis measures UAP height above the tops of trees along the ground’s southern edge. Assuming the witness was midway along the stands, the trees were about 100 m away. Their tops subtend 5–10°, depending on tree heights of 5 or 15 m; two differently sized trees appear. Adding the photographic measurements puts the UAP around 35° elevation. The radar aircraft was about 12 km away at 10.6 km altitude, giving 41° elevation. GEIPAN attributes the difference to uncertainties in the witness’s exact position, tree heights and synchronization of photo and radar: the aircraft was rapidly receding and descending in angular elevation. The black UAPs mentioned by the witness are more likely among the numerous dirt marks on the lens. GEIPAN classifies the case A: aircraft.