CASTRES (81) 10.07.2019

On 10 July 2019 at 22:30, rather than 20:30 as mistakenly entered in the questionnaire, a witness went into his small garden for some cool air. He heard an increasingly deafening sound like a powerful ventilation system. Looking up, he saw a split-second flash to his left at an estimated height of 200 m, then another to his right. Between them was a large black shape resembling an oversized microlight cockpit, apparently connected to the flashes by an elastic cable. The whole moved towards Lautrec (81), and he filmed the end of the sighting on his mobile phone. The witness found several aspects strange: the succession of flashes in the sky, a dull noise across the town, the movement of the flashes and an apparent cable joining them, the dark cockpit-like mass, and the 2 departing lights filmed above the ring road towards Lautrec. He also recalled similar events around the same date the previous year, which he had not reported to GEIPAN. That recollection initially directed the investigation towards Les Extravadanses, a festival held annually in Castres (81) from 7 to 12 July. An event took place in the theatre square on 10 July 2019. The witness said that in 2018 he had seen similar lights, without cables or a cockpit, towards the Stade Pierre Fabre and Place de la République. Castres town hall's events department confirmed that the 2018 festival took place in Place de la République. The festival might account for the dull noise, the initial viewing direction towards the theatre square, and flashes possibly produced by reflected spotlights. GEIPAN therefore considered reflections from festival lighting in 2018 and 2019. However, lights passing closer overhead remained unexplained unless a laser beam had skimmed across the town. The 2019 programme listed no light show, particularly on 10 July, when dance performances were scheduled at Place Jean Jaurès. The source reproduces this portion of Wednesday 10 July's programme, with the full programme in an annex: - 19:00, theatre forecourt: Modern’jazz. - 20:00, Place Jean Jaurès: 'Au fil des notes', wire dancing and piano. - 20:45, Place Jean Jaurès: 'Le petit bal perdu', a dance open to audience participation. The festival hypothesis also failed to explain the impression of an overhead craft with a cockpit and cables between its lights. GEIPAN therefore investigated another explanation. The witness observed from his garden and reported movement. Infoclimat recorded clear weather, no precipitation and very light wind, consistent with his account. GEIPAN considered the southeast-to-northwest path over the house incompatible with a celestial light. Air-traffic information showed no civil flights above Castres at that time. GEIPAN requested information from the French Air Force's National Air Operations Centre (CNOA). It confirmed military training activity, including a tanker aircraft, at the observation time. The plotted radar tracks showed aircraft involved in refuelling Air Force fighters, which GEIPAN considered capable of explaining the apparent taut cable illuminated by flashes. Aircraft could have been visible, accounting for the cockpit-like shape, and audible overhead. The radar tracks ran southeast to northwest, matching the witness's description of movement over his house and then above the ring road towards Lautrec. Aircraft callsigns were redacted from the radar plot attached in the annex to protect military operational confidentiality; the operations themselves were confirmed. GEIPAN judged the manoeuvres capable of explaining the reported strangeness, leaving very little residual strangeness. It found the evidential support very good because the witness, located approximately 1 km from central Castres, had: - Written a detailed 3-page letter with drawings on the evening of the sighting, specifying the path relative to the town; the letter is attached. - Filed a police incident report the next day. - Supplied a complete questionnaire and drawings at GEIPAN's request. - Supplied a photograph, also attached. - Filmed the end of the sighting, including a tree and chimney visible from the garden, which enabled the northwest direction to be checked using Google. Of the 2 hypotheses considered—the festival and aircraft passing overhead—GEIPAN found that the sighting did not match the festival but was consistent in every respect with the military training flight confirmed by CNOA. With good evidential support and little residual strangeness, it classified the case A: misidentification of military aircraft training.