Sighting in Verfeil, February 17, 2013
Haute-Garonne, Occitanie, France
Sighting on February 17, 2013 in Verfeil (Haute-Garonne, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably an aircraft contrail (class B).
What happened
At about 10:04 a.m., several people travelling by car noticed what looked like white trails in a clear sky. Two photographs came with the account. Two things made the sight seem odd: there were a great many trails, and some of them were not straight.
The investigation tied these features to the weather that day. The autan wind, which was just starting to blow, goes together with strong winds at altitude, and these quickly distort aircraft contrails. The temperature and humidity were also such that the trails lasted fairly long. GEIPAN classified the case as B: the witnesses very probably saw aircraft contrails, numerous and distorted by the autan wind, which is associated with falling pressure and strong winds at altitude.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- February 17, 2013
- Location
- Verfeil · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From the ground
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Aircraft
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2013-02-08408
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.