Sighting in Morlaàs, November 29, 2021

One morning, the witness was looking through the French window of their home, which opens onto the garden, and noticed circular arrangements of cloud in the sky. They watched the phenomenon for about five minutes, during which the shapes slowly faded and then disappeared. They took several photographs. The sky was heavily overcast. The witness also felt a strange sensation, which they described as a vibration, a feeling of tension or electricity in the air. Some of the formations were completely circular.

The witness looked into the matter on their own. They thought it was a weather phenomenon, but the explanation given in the press, horseshoe clouds, did not satisfy them, because the circle they had seen was sharp and complete.

The GEIPAN investigation ruled out horseshoe clouds: the atmospheric conditions (a heavily overcast sky, a stable atmosphere or very slow movement) and the horizontal orientation of the shapes are incompatible with their formation. It established that the witness had seen condensation trails left by aerial manoeuvres of a military patrol some thirty kilometres to the north. The very uniform cloud ceiling visible in the photos points to very slow cloud movement, which accounts for the trails lasting about 45 minutes. The sensation of vibration can be explained by several helicopters operating nearby. The case is classified A: condensation trails.