Sighting in Biarritz, January 16, 2001

At daybreak, under a clear sky, an air traffic controller in the Biarritz tower took a call at about 7:45 a.m. from a colleague in the San Sebastian tower in Spain. The colleague could see a fixed, twinkling point of light above the sea and wanted to know whether it was also visible from Biarritz. It was, although no radar echo was detected. Staying in contact by telephone, the two controllers each followed the safety procedures required in such a situation. Madrid and the Bilbao military air control reported no traffic in the area, Bordeaux and the French military had seen nothing, and only the Torrejon radar had recorded a plot, which the military there denied shortly afterwards. The phenomenon disappeared after about half an hour.

The information was passed on to SEPRA, which contacted the CCOA at Taverny without result. A check within the CNES also ruled out a balloon launch from Aire-sur-l'Adour. On 2 February 2001, the head of SEPRA interviewed both witnesses and took theodolite measurements. The direction of observation was the same from Biarritz and San Sebastian, about 40 km apart, so the object had to be very distant and could not be an aircraft. The case was first classified B, as a probable astronomical observation.

The re-examination confirmed that the two witnesses, both air traffic controllers, were reliable. The duration, shape, size and colour matched the star Capella, whose scintillation was exceptionally strong because of particular atmospheric conditions. The witnesses' perception was not at fault; their interpretation of what they saw was. The case is classified A: a misidentification of Capella.