GEIPAN Case 2018-07-50618 — SAINTE-FOY-DE-PEYROLIERES (31) 08.07.2018

Brief

At 23:30 on July 8, 2018, a witness seated in a garden in Sainte-Foy-de-Peyrolières (Haute-Garonne) observed an unidentified phenomenon lasting approximately 20 seconds in a clear, moonless sky. The event unfolded in five phases: 5-6 ultra-bright, warm-white points erupted simultaneously from a single high-altitude point near Ursa Minor or Draco and descended slowly in a 'cascade effect'; they resolved into 4 aligned luminous points on a dark rectangular wing with dark orange translucent coloring on its underside; the form transitioned to horizontal flight while morphing into a triangular shape; it then accelerated at extraordinary silent speed — no trail, no sound, no sonic boom — covering an estimated 3-5 km in under 2 seconds; it subsequently reformed into the rectangular wing and faded from view. No photo or video was captured. GEIPAN assigned classification D1: phenomenon of unexplained nature and origin.

Metadata

Agency

GEIPAN / CNES

Release

2007-03-22

Type

PDF • .pdf

Length

20 pages

Classification

D1 (GEIPAN taxonomy — unexplained phenomenon of unknown nature and origin)

Programs

GEIPAN, GEPAN, SEPRA

Tags

luminous points, cascade descent, rectangular wing, triangular morphing, silent acceleration, no sonic boom, dark orange translucent underside, shape change, Haute-Garonne, 2018, GEIPAN D1

Key points

• Single witness; no photograph, no video, no physical evidence. Duration approximately 20 seconds. The witness submitted graphic reconstructions of each phase with the questionnaire.p.2
• The witness proactively acknowledged that only radar detection could corroborate the account, stating he was fully aware his testimony alone carried no credibility without it.p.5
• Phase 1: 5-6 ultra-bright, slightly golden-white points appeared simultaneously from a single point near Ursa Minor or Draco, spreading apart and descending slowly in what the witness termed an 'effet cascade' over approximately 5 seconds. One point visibly moved laterally from left to right of the group in approximately 1 second.p.4
• Phase 2: 4 luminous points stabilized in aligned formation on a dark rectangular wing shape. Dark orange translucent coloring — described as having a liquid or translucent quality — was visible distributed across the underside of the wing. No blinking, no color variation; intensity matched surrounding bright stars throughout.p.5
• Phase 3: Over approximately 2 seconds, the object transitioned from vertical descent to horizontal flight while morphing progressively from a rectangular wing into a triangular shape, simultaneously beginning to accelerate.p.6
• Phase 4: The object accelerated with extraordinary and silent speed — the witness estimated approximately 3-5 km in under 2 seconds — producing no trail, no sibilance, no engine sound, and no sonic boom. The witness ran 4-5 meters to clear a laurel tree to maintain visual contact, tracking the object in what he describes as 3-4 discrete sequential sightings.p.7
• Phase 5: After the acceleration burst, the object reformed into a rectangular wing with the same 4 aligned luminous points; the dark orange translucent coloring briefly reappeared for 1-2 seconds, then the object progressively faded into the night. Estimated final altitude below 1000 meters, benchmarked against A400M military transport aircraft the witness regularly observes from the same property.p.7
• The witness explicitly described himself as rational and technically minded, and stated that prior to this event he had dismissed UAP accounts as folklore — framing the observation as a fundamental disruption of his prior worldview.p.3

Verbatim

• Je me suis retrouvé en face d'un phénomène qui s'est passé juste devant mes yeux, à très haute altitude (et qu'on ne me dise pas le contraire parce que je ne le croirai pas, je ne suis pas scientifique, mais je suis assez lucide, cartésien, plutôt rationnel, et j'ai l'esprit assez technique, et je sais surtout comment j'ai vu le phénomène se manifester).

  p.3

• Je n'ai jamais vu ça de ma vie, et avant cela, je me fichais éperdument, complètement, totalement, de savoir si des choses de ce genre (phénomène non identifié), existaient, ou pas.

  p.3

• Ces 5 ou 6 petits objets sont sortis du même point en même temps, et se sont légèrement espacés entre eux aussitôt qu'ils sont apparus.

  p.4

• Leur couleur ressemblait comme à celle d'un flash lorsqu'une petite étoile filante entre dans l'atmosphère.

  p.4

• Je tiens à préciser que de toute l'observation, à partir de cet instant et jusqu'à la fin, il n'y a pas eu de clignotement de ces points lumineux, ni de changement de leur couleur (pas de rouge, pas de vert), leur couleur et leur intensité sont restés quasi à l'identique des étoiles les plus brillantes environnantes.

  p.5

Most interesting

• The witness used thumb-to-index finger angular measurements at arm's length as a consistent angular scale across all five phases — a practical but non-instrumented methodology that GEIPAN investigators could partially reconstruct from the submitted graphic files.
• The dark orange translucent coloring on the underside of the wing appeared at two distinct moments: during the slow rectangular-wing descent phase and again briefly after the hypersonic acceleration burst, suggesting it may correlate with a specific energy or propulsion state.
• The object reportedly shape-shifted in real time from a rectangular wing to a triangular form over approximately 1-2 seconds, with the triangular configuration apparently enabling or coinciding with the acceleration.
• The witness tracked the object during its acceleration in what he describes as 3-4 'image-by-image' discrete visual snapshots, running physically to clear a laurel tree — a detail that anchors the event to a specific garden geography he referenced with satellite imagery.
• His mother was present 4-5 meters away and did not observe the phenomenon, attributed to the garden's darkness obscuring the direction of his gaze rather than any absence of the event.
• The witness referenced the A400M military transport aircraft — which he observes regularly from his property during parachute drops at approximately 400 meters altitude — as a personal altitude calibration benchmark for the object's final low-altitude pass.
• The questionnaire template is GEIPAN V3-13, dated September 2018, confirming the report was filed within two months of the July 8 observation — limiting memory degradation.
• GEIPAN D1 is the agency's top-tier anomaly classification, reserved for cases where all conventional explanations have been exhausted; its application here places this sighting among the small percentage of GEIPAN intake that remains genuinely unresolved.