Sighting in Port-Sainte-Marie, May 26, 2010

Three witnesses went to the gendarmerie to report what they had seen between 9:45 pm and 11:00 pm from the village square. Their attention had been drawn by an orange light in the direction of the smoke from the Golfech power plant. They watched it for a very long time, first with the naked eye and then with binoculars, under a heavily overcast sky. A first luminous phenomenon, then a second, moved around in the sky before disappearing in the distance.

The first phenomenon, seen during the second phase, was described in turn as a cigar, a triangle and an X. The witnesses heard a distinctive noise coming from it and often compared it to an aircraft. The second one moved in cyclical patterns, in the direction of Agen airport.

The GEIPAN investigation concluded that the witnesses had probably observed several aircraft, in two separate phases. The successive shapes match the crude outlines an aircraft can take at night as the viewing angle changes. The colours are consistent with those used in aviation, and the orange tint of the second phenomenon may be explained by its low elevation and possible fine particles in the air. The noise could be that of an aircraft, distorted by the local terrain. The turns made by the first one fit an aircraft flying at low altitude, possibly a military Hercules C-130 on exercise nearby, although the data were too sparse and imprecise to confirm this. The back-and-forth movements of the second resembled a Gendarmerie helicopter searching a defined area, though there was no necessary link with the airport. The one-hour duration of the observation remained very long. The case was classified B: multiple aeronautical misidentifications probable.