AMBRES (81) 09.09.2024

On 9 September 2024 around 23:00, a witness (T1) on the doorstep of his home in Ambres (81) saw an intense luminous point to the north-east emitting a white beam. It moved straight towards him, initially behaving like an ordinary aircraft. As it approached, he distinguished red and blue lights on either side of the main beam and a rear white light positioned like one on an aircraft’s vertical tail fin. As it passed overhead, he saw a white luminous rectangle containing several flashing lights of different colours. He moved to continue watching and heard an engine sound described as a soft, continuous vibration. The UAP maintained constant speed until disappearing at the horizon. His spouse (T2) also came outside, but it was already too distant for detailed observation. GEIPAN assesses the evidential strength as low: there were 2 observers, but only T1 wished to provide an account, and no photograph was taken. The account contains a date error and imprecise sighting time and duration (see the investigation report). Under GEIPAN’s criteria, evidential strength means the quantity of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively supported. The investigation identifies an airliner approaching Toulouse airport, on the following grounds: - Red, white and green are standard aircraft-light colours in the usual locations. T1 described blue, which can sometimes be confused with green. - The initially powerful white beam probably corresponds to landing lights. - A 30–40-second duration fits an aircraft crossing the witness’s sky at normal approach speed and altitude. - Air-navigation data confirm Lufthansa flight DLH23U approaching Toulouse along a trajectory fully compatible with the UAP. It passed over T1’s area at 23:16, 1 minute after the approximately stated end time in the questionnaire. - The “soft blowing engine sound” fits an aircraft at an altitude of about 2,000 m. - T1 repeatedly referred explicitly to an aircraft. The unusual appearance arose at a particular moment when he perceived it passing overhead at very low altitude. He described an intense “pool of light” directly above him, containing pink, violet, green and orange flashes where the initial “headlight” beam had been. GEIPAN considers that this may have been the structure supporting the landing lights, possibly on the nose landing gear, or part of the fuselage obscured by the lighting’s intensity. The identified aircraft was actually at about 2,000 m altitude over T1, greatly limiting the ability to resolve structural details. The perceived multicoloured flashing remains difficult to interpret with certainty. A plausible hypothesis is an optical effect from the powerful landing lights, producing coloured reflections on airborne particles. GEIPAN classifies the case A: observation of an airliner.