Sighting in Sarrancolin, October 9, 2023

The witness and the person with them were driving out of a village around midday when they noticed a white object in the sky straight ahead. It was about the size of an aircraft but did not have the shape of one. It moved slowly and steadily along a straight path, and no sound could be heard. Only one of the two reported the sighting to GEIPAN. The file was rated as having good consistency, because an accompanying video made it possible to work out where the observation took place and in which direction.

The investigation pursued the idea of an Airbus A330-700 Beluga. Its long, wide body and distinctive design fit the description, and so does its white colour. Seen from the ground, the wings lie in line with the fuselage and cannot be made out. The witness had thought of an aircraft, but did not know the Beluga and so did not make the connection. Using geographic landmarks visible in the video, GEIPAN established that the observation was facing north. The object moved from left to right while getting smaller, which probably means it was travelling from southwest to northeast.

Air traffic maps (CNOA, adsbexchange and Flightradar24) confirmed that a Beluga was north of the witnesses at about noon (10:00 UTC), flying at roughly 6,100 m (20,000 ft). That altitude is above the threshold for contrail formation, which explains why none was seen. GEIPAN classified the case as A: the object was a Beluga aircraft.