[AERO AFR] de ABIDJAN (CI.AB) vers PARIS (95) 08.04.2023

During the night of 7–8 April 2023, one pilot on Air France’s Abidjan–Paris flight, with some of the crew, observed four white luminous phenomena of varying brightness from 00:40 for about an hour. They appeared very distant and moved rapidly with apparent direction changes. Their angular position was 20–30° relative to the aircraft’s longitudinal axis and +10–+20° relative to its attitude. Only the captain filmed and submitted an account. The sky was completely clear, with little ground lighting, until the approach to Algiers, where the moving points gradually dimmed and disappeared. On 27 June 2023, the witness supplied further information about the four UAPs’ movements. GEIPAN tested and confirmed an astronomical explanation for UAP2, which remained stationary at the azimuth and elevation of Vega (see investigation report). It then examined satellites because the UAPs’ brightness changed rapidly over short periods of about 20 seconds, suggesting sunlight reflected at particular angles from solar panels or metallic surfaces. Online research found similarities with many observations of operational Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit. GEIPAN describes the relevant conditions as a region about 45° vertically above the Sun while the Sun is 30–45° below the horizon. Successive Starlink satellites in different orbital planes crossing that region create grouped flashes, called “Starlink cluster flares,” which can suggest varied trajectories (see the web article “starlink-satellites-flaring-in-cassiopeia”). For UAPs 1, 3 and 4, the Sun’s position, viewing region and descriptions match operational Starlink satellite flares in every respect. GEIPAN finds low strangeness and good evidential substance: several observers, although only one fairly complete account, with video. On 29 November 2023, the witness reported a similar observation on an Air France Cayenne–Paris flight over the Bay of Biscay, comparing it with the UAP of “5 April 2023,” the date used in this later passage of the source. Solar conditions again favoured Starlink cluster flares. The case is classified A: flares from Starlink satellites in operational orbit. It closely resembles three other published GEIPAN cases: [AERO AFR] KINSHASA (CD.KN) to PARIS (75) 10.04.2023; [AERO TVF] AMMAN (JO.AM) to ORLY (94) 31.01.2023; and [AERO TVF] EREVAN (AM.ER) to ORLY (94) 13.12.2023. Together these four cases support a technical investigation note and a news publication.