Sighting in Castres, July 10, 2019

At around 10:30 pm (not 8:30 pm, as an error in the questionnaire stated), the witness had stepped out into their small garden to get some fresh air when they heard a noise growing louder and louder, like a powerful fan. Looking up, they saw a very brief flash about 200 metres above the ground, first on their left and then on their right. Between the two, they made out a larger dark mass resembling a microlight cockpit, which seemed to be linked to the two flashes by an elastic cable. The whole thing moved off towards Lautrec, above the ring road, and the witness managed to film the end of the sighting with their phone. They also said they remembered similar events the previous year, around the same date, but had not reported them to GEIPAN at the time.

The investigation first looked at the "Les Extravadanses" festival, held in Castres every year in early July. It could partly account for the dull noise and for reflections of light, but the programme for 10 July 2019 included no light show, and it explained neither the cockpit nor the cables. The sky was clear, the wind very light, and no civil flights were recorded at that hour. The phenomenon's path, from south-east to north-west over the house, ruled out an astronomical object. The CNOA of the French Air Force confirmed a military training exercise involving a tanker aircraft and fighters. The radar tracks followed the same direction the witness described. The cable lit by the flashes could correspond to the refuelling, the cockpit to a visible aircraft, and the noise to their passing overhead.

The testimony was very consistent: a detailed letter written the same evening, a report filed with the police the next day, a full questionnaire, a photo, and a film showing the surroundings of the garden, which made it possible to confirm the direction of the path. GEIPAN classified the case as A: a misidentification of military training aircraft.