MORIERES-LES-AVIGNON (84) 09.04.2023

The case is dated 9 April 2023 in Morières-lès-Avignon (84). On 11 April 2023 a CNES staff member received an email reporting an unexplained aerospace observation and forwarded it to GEIPAN. Because the phenomenon was unusual, GEIPAN exceptionally decided to consider it without a technical questionnaire. Investigators discussed it at a collaborative meeting where they share ongoing investigations, and a simplified report was written; see the attachment. The witness thought they were seeing a falling object that appeared molten. Analysis of the image suggested sunlight scattered by an aircraft contrail. The time, 07:04, corresponded to sunrise and explained the orange, molten appearance. The investigation showed that an aircraft passed in the viewing direction at about 07:04:45, exactly matching the time on the witness’s first photograph; see the witness photographs. It was British Airways flight BA54 from Johannesburg to London, an Airbus A380-841 flying above 12,000 m at over 800 km/h on heading 349°. GEIPAN explains the perceived strangeness as a perspective effect suggesting a falling object, combined with scattered orange light from the rising Sun suggesting something burning or molten. The large aircraft, an Airbus A380-841 with an 80 m wingspan and 4 Rolls-Royce engines, produced an unusually broad contrail, which also made identification difficult and contributed to the strangeness. GEIPAN concludes that the witness observed a large airliner's contrail. Scattered light from the rising Sun gave it colours suggesting molten material, while the receding trajectory created a perspective impression of a falling object. Classification A: observation of a large airliner's contrail.