[AERO AFR] DE KINSHASA (CD.KN) VERS PARIS (75) 10.04.2023

During the night of 9–10 April 2023, the pilot of an AFR flight from Kinshasa to Paris saw luminous points moving apparently at random, with changing brightness and alternating stationary phases and “sudden movement,” sometimes at a speed resembling a satellite’s. The observation ran from 01:30 to approximately 02:15 UTC. At the beginning, 2 objects reached brightness comparable to Venus and seemed to circle one another while remaining at the same azimuth relative to the aircraft. They dimmed, disappeared and reappeared after 1–2 minutes, making approximately similar non-straight movements. About 4–5 other objects behaved similarly but were much fainter, comparable with surrounding stars. The investigation considered military-aircraft manoeuvres over the Mediterranean near Sardinia or Corsica, which could not be confirmed, and sunlit satellites (see the investigation report). Analysis against the stars placed the UAP approximately 45° above the Sun, which remained 45–30° below the horizon during the observation. GEIPAN found these ideal conditions for a newly recognised type of sighting: Starlink satellites in operational orbits briefly visible through specular sunlight reflection from their chassis, as described in the cited literature and the web article “starlink-satellites-flaring-in-cassiopeia.” The highly cooperative witness subsequently observed the phenomenon on another flight under visibility conditions predicted by GEIPAN, formally validating the hypothesis. The case has good evidential strength because several witnesses were present and the account was complete and precise. The successful prediction further strengthened it and confirmed operational-orbit Starlink flares. The case is classified A: flashes from Starlink satellites in operational orbit. It closely resembles these GEIPAN cases: - [AERO AFR] from ABIDJAN (CI.AB) to PARIS (95), 08.04.2023. - [AERO TVF] from AMMAN (JO.AM) to ORLY (94), 31.01.2023. - [AERO TVF] from EREVAN (AM.ER) to ORLY (94), 13.12.2023. Together, the 4 cases form the basis of an investigative technical note and a News-section publication.