SIGHTINGS


 
Big Triangle UFO Flys
Very Low Over The
Ardennes - Scores Of Witnesses
From the Korea Central News Agency
<www.kcna.co.jp/contents/94.htm>
From Michael Mehr <michaeltm@mailexcite.com>
9-5-98
 
 
AFP press release: Thursday, August 13 1998 - 13H01 Paris time
 
CHARLEVILLE-MEZIERES (AFP) - A triangular UFO flying at low altitude over the region of Sedan and Carignan (French Ardennes - note of the translator: N-N-E of France) has been observed at the beginning of the week by ca. 150 persons.
 
"In the night of Monday to Tuesday, it was seen descending right over Charleville-Mézières, before performing several circles above some 30 cites or villages in the Sedan region", said on Thursday Jean-Luc Lemaire, the local representative for the Centre d'Etudes OVNI France (CEOF).
 
"Our association received some 150 reports from eye-witnesses, and we also got a video shot during this night by two young video amateurs ", he added. "The engine looked like a large triangle with rounded edges, and one of its angles was directed towards the flight path. It had two red lights in the back and a large white one in the front. These lights were not blinking. Condensation traces were visible at the rear of the UFO which flew at an altitude estimated up to 500 meters".
 
Jean-Luc Lemaire, CEOF, France
 
"We got only very limited data to evaluate the speed of the UFO, the sound of which was described as low-pitched by several witnesses ", said Mr. Lemaire." It has been observed from midnight to 02H00 (a.m.) and some eye-witnesses had the feeling that it was somehow playing hide-and-seek" stated the responsible of CEOF, an organization which head-quarters are in Marseille (Bouches-du- Rhône). "It slowly made several circles over inhabited regions, as if it was spying. Then, it moved away and started circling again over another village", he added. " Finally, it disappeared behind a hill and was not seen later", concluded Mr. Lemaire.
 
Acording to Mr. Lemaire, the UFO could not be a stealth fighter because it was flying slowly at low altitude. The UFO could neither be a meteorite (because of the flight trajectory) nor a comet, which would have appeared higher in the sky and almost nonmobile. The very strange loud noise which pushed people to look for the source of it, was neither that of known helicopter nor that of known plane.
 
"We are left with several hypothesis, such as an optical illusion or a flight of an unknown military prototype flying outside usual plane test ranges", said Mr. Lemaire. "Overall, the trajectory of the UFO was West to Est. We would therefore like to know whether this UFO was seen on the West shores of France, or whether it crosses the Atlantic Ocean", he added.




Commentaries From UFOCOM
 
On August 10th, we received a call from a family living in Quaregnon (Belgium). They observed a similar triangular object, flying very slowly, only a few meters above the roofs of the houses. This observation would have been performed on June 27, 1998.
 
Yves, a member of the "Sciences" team at the UFOCOM, called CEOF to obtain a copy of the video shot in Charleville-Mézières to investigate the tape and the recorded data. A letter confirming our will to critically analyze the images (see for instance our work entitled " The Face " INSERER ICI LE LIEN HYPERTEXTE) was also sent on August 14, 1998..
 
Investigation pending....
 
(Thanks to Yves for this quite busy day and thanks to Xavier for the press release! Congratulations to CEOF Ardennes for their efficiency!).
 
(from Frédéric, UFOCOM)
 
Friday, August 14 1998, 15h42 : Yves, a member of the "Sciences" team of the UFOCOM, phoned to the Air Traffic Control Center (ATCC) at Reims!
 
Yves sent us this message:
 
Thierry,
 
[...] I finally got in touch with the ATCC in Reims, in charge of the North- East sector of France. I was redirected (that's the appropriate word) to a very nice person who explained me, as I though, that civil ATCC cannot see unexpected radar echoes (note from the translator: these are called " bogeys " my the Air Force), since their control system is not "designed" to operate in this way.
 
[In Reims,] ATC works based on emission and reception of radio signals from a special radio transmitter which is part of the equipment of all plane (tourism and liner), and termed a transponder.
 
If the transponder is activated, any aiplane can be seeen and identified by its coodinates, plus flight parameters such as altitude, vertical and horizontal speed. Military aircrafts flying over North Europa are also supposed to use transponders allowing their identification as military planes. The ATC member to whom I talked told me that they cannot "see" a plane which transonder won't be working (as it may happen from a breakdown or if it is shut off). In other words, Reims Control as most ATCC can see only the planes which "want" to be seen. I doubt that the aircraft observed Monday night (if this phenomenon is indeed an aircraft) whished to be seen on ATCC control screens! Anyway, it seems that nothing unusual was seen by these folks! Yves, UFOCOM SCI
 
Comments by Thierry, Gen. Coord. UFOCOM :
 
Hi Yves,
 
[...] a comment on Reims ATCC answer to your call: their radars are supposed to see "everything" and the transponders allow only the identification of the planes. Unidentified aircrafts is termed an "angel" by civil ATCC. A plane with no radar identification crossing an ATCC zone is seen! Indeed , these gauys have to prevent all intrusion and jams within flight corridors [...] a situation which may lead to air collision. This was the case during the so- called "Belgian Wave". ATC at Bruxelles-National Airport recorded "angels" with unusual behavior. Professor Meessen spottd them by examining carefuly radar data. [...]
 
Amicalement, Thierry
 
__________________
 
Saturday, August 15, 1998, 16h57 (GMT): AFP Press Release
 
(from Robert Fischer, independent investigator)
 
ã AFP Général - Saturday August 15, 1998 - 16:57 GMT Miscellaneaous-OVNI Traces and strange noise related to a UFO in Haute-Marne.
 
CHAUMONT, August 15, 1998 (AFP). Inexplicable traces were spotted in an orchard, and strange noises were heard by several persons on Monday and Friday in Prauthoy, a village located south of Langres (Haute-Marne, France). These features led the inhabitants to think that a flying object may have landed in their village, claimed the mayor on Saturday.
 
"Monday, at 23H00, several of us heard a loud noise, lighter than that of a plane, which lasted for a long time ", told mayor Philippe Badet. according to him, it was "a flying object,but not a plane". Some 2à people saw lights, he added.
 
A neighbor saw "two red and one white lights in the sky, that were not moving".
 
On Friday, abnormal traces were found in an orchard. These appeared as two parallel lines, on dry grass, 25 m long and 70 cm wide, 8 to 9 m one from the otherl'une de l'autre. A triangle is visible in between, according to the mayor.
 
The firemen and the "gendarmes" from Langres and Chaumont tok various pictures. Soil and plants were ampled for further analysis. Results of the analysis are negative, said the "gendarmerie".
 
A team specialized in detecting and identifying radioactive elements was sent there and performed series of measurements. These did not reveal any traces of radioactivity.
 
Earlier this week, a UFO was seen by at least 150 persons in the Sedan and Carignan region (Ardennes, Fance), as reportedby the representant of the Centre d'Etudes OVNI France.
 
hg/nm
 
_________________
 
Saturday August 15, 1998, 22h49: a message from a private pilot
 
Below is the copy of a mail sent to UFOCOM by Mr. Benjamin V., a private pilot from Reims (France), who reacted to the above reports. He confirmed the data provided by ATCC to Yves concerning the cicil ATC system. Mr. Benjamin V. will continue to investigate this question and gave us his word to keep us informed. Here also, investigation pending...
 
"Hello,
 
I am living in Reims. Here is a CCR (ATCC), i.e. a civil control center, and an Air Force base.
 
As a private pilot, and a real fan of military traffic control, I visited both above mentionned installations. I confirm taht Reims ATCC cannot see aircrafts flying without operating transponders, because people ther use what are called secondary radars yielding only a digital image of the air corridors around, from the data transmetted by the transponders. In no case, could ATC detect an aircraft which would have turned the transponder off. ATC therefore does not have the exact image of the air trafic over the controlled zone. The Army and the Air Force use so-called primary radars (as they were designed initially) which provide them with non-processed images. Such a system would be of no use for cicil ATC considering the very high number of planes flying in a given sector. With a primary radar, one can see all object on which radar waves bounce, from ULM to B747. But one can also see rainy or snowy zones because they indeed reverberate the radar waves. Mlitary radar can thus see all planes rpovided they fly suficiently high not to be hidden from the radar waves.
 
Reims Local Control was closed on Monday evening since military flighs from this base essentially occurs on Tuesday and Thursday. [...]
 
I will try to ask a few friends who are ATCers at Cambrai-Epinoy, Nancy-Essey, Toul and St Dizier whether they gor something.
 
Anyway, radar stations from the Control and Detection Centers (CDC) at Dracchenbrönn (call sign Riesling, controlling the NE part of France) and at Doullens (call sign Mazout, controlling N part of France) are operating 24 hrs a day to detect all intruders over French territory. The Belgian Air Force bases can also get data from this zone, as well as the NATO AWACS based at Geilenkirchen. I do not knwo whether French AWACS were in the air on Monday night.
 
Considering the number of AF bases in the NE of France, in Benelux, and in Germany, and the range of military radars, I doubt that none of those which could have traced the phenomenon were turned off!
 
For your information, and on the contrary to what is written above, all liners and military airplanes are fited with a transponder, but they are not compulsory on private planes [...] except in some high trafic area where safety reasons obviously call for the use of a transponder.
 
Benjamin V."
 
_____________________
 
Sunday August 16, 1998: Nothing new!
 
A few thoughts...
 
Excepted some news from the United States about triangular UFO sightings on the territory, nothing to report. The Americans know what is happening in France. We have contacted the newsgroups "alt.paranet.ufo", "alt.ufo.reports" and others have been informed by European subscribers.
 
Germany, Spain, Italy and England seem to have broadcast the information in the national media. Curiously, nothing at the French-speaking Belgian televisions!
 
Recently, we investigated about crop-circles in Belgium, and I wrote an article from the report of Alain (UFOCOM investigator, Inquiries Team). The affair was in fact a hoax made by a Dutch-speaking Belgian TV. At the end of this article I wished the next "wave" did not take place in our country, because of the community problems! Well, it takes place in France... (humour!!!)
 
Many people have thought of a Belgian-like wave. I sincerely hope that the conclusions of those recent observations will not be similar. French, you have a right to ask questions! Maybe it is a military test (with exotic aspects), or a real UFO, but we must know. Show your reasonable and serene interest in this problem. Do not be deceived par some strange sects or flying-saucer buffs! Do not listen to loud and easy explanations: Accept your curiosity and try to understand! If you are not convinced of something, take the necessary steps yourselves! Ask the people who should or could know. Science is an unavoidable tool, it symbolises our brain. But do not forget your eyes and ears: the army and the State. What the UFOCOM does, you can do individually! Anyone who can write can ask. If you do not receive an answer, it does not matter.
 
I think it is time for the European community to get a "professional" organisation that would have the means to manage and to study the UFO files. I do not think that the armies conspire against their own populations. But perhaps they conspire FOR them.
 
I want to inform my ufologist "colleagues" that they will have tens of rubbish accounts and hoaxes. Maybe, broadcasting immediately the images is a bad idea. In practical terms, the accounts that come after this broadcast can not be as much credible as the previous ones. It is a shame, but not a tragedy.
 
On the other hand, if we did not say anything, the isolated witnesses would keep silence, for fear of ridicule. Thus let us be open but also careful and prudent.
 
Thierry
 
_____________________
 
Monday August 17, 1998 : our correspondents report
 
One of our correspondents called us around 6:30pm to report that the RTBF Radio said that a lady from Florenville, Belgium, observed the Ardennes triangle at the same date, Monday, 10th of August. This witness would have called the Belgian gendarmerie. We expect to know more.
 
Some news from Jérome (UFOCOM) :
 
- Saturday, 15th of August, TF1 (French TV) news : In the Ardennes, a young boy who was fishing (I think with his father) got a first-degree burn, falling in the river. This burn is thought to be due to "white phosphorus" from a military shell (as far I understood, the shell has not been found out).
 
- Monday, 17th of August, 9:00am, programme about UFO on the "Europe 1" radio station. The French sociologist Pierre Lagrange was invited. Witnesses called, among other things, about the Ardennes. I learned that an other observation, similar to the one of Monday evening, was made on Friday, 14th of August, 1998, in Haute-Marne, France.
 
Monday August 17, 1998, 7:00pm (Paris time) : Discussion with Mr Lemaire of CEOF
 
At the beginning of the evening, I was phoned by Mr Lemaire of CEOF-Ardennes. We agreed on a technical collaboration. Mr Lemaire will send us the video documents (copy from the original for the Charleville video), and our "ADV" Team (Visual Documents Analysis) will examine them. We will write a report and send it to CEOF with our authorisation to use it. Of course, we will publish it on our site too. This agreement is fully bilateral! I underline the fact that we have never talked about money! It is rare enough to write it! Not everyone is Santilli... It still exist honest people.
 
While he was at it, Mr Lemaire told me about his trip, this day, to Prauthoy, where he examined the marks mentioned by the AFP release of Saturday, 15th of August (see above). According to him, those marks have nothing to do with the recent observations. However, he took earth samples for analysis. Some of them will be sent to us. I am surprised of how rapidly the French gendarmerie has carried out those analysis. The samples were taken a Monday, at summer time, and the conclusion came out the next Saturday. A biologist, researcher at CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research), told me that sometimes, several weeks were necessary for this sort of analysis. Well... If the gendarmerie was seized, there will automatically be a follow-up to SEPRA.
 
I advice the witnesses to relate their observations to the gendarmerie, so that they will be received by SEPRA. I also ask them, while they are at it, to contact a private investigation group, like CEOF, GUIDE, the UFOCOM or other... Just for information.Mr Lemaire has been receiving hundreds of calls! And he must check everything! An enormous work... There could be interesting things... To be continued...
 
Thierry
 
N.B. : May the people who write us forgive us if it takes long to be replied. ;-)
 
A triangular UFO flew over the Ardennes (Belgium)
 
Page 2 (week of the 20th of august)
 
Thursday 20th of August, 1998
 
TV news on RTBF (French-speaking Belgian television), 7:30pm : report on UFO observations. A correspondent who saw the document says:
 
"Interviews of the CEEPA officials (Air Phenomenon Study European Centre, in Quaregnon, Belgium) and Michel Bougard, the SOBEPS president (Space Phenomenon Study Belgium Society) were carried out.
 
Pascale Degens and Christian Daubioul, respectively general secretary and president of CEEPA were enthusiastic about the strangeness of the recent observations. Mr Bougard was more careful and cautious. CEEPA asked for witnesses."
 
I unfortunately missed those news and this sequence has not been broadcast again during the last news, at 11:30pm.
 
Thierry
 
Account of Mr R.V., from Tiff (Esneux), nearby Liège, Belgium, 8:48pm:
 
"(...) During the night from the 9th to 10th of August, 1998, around 3:30am, I saw, or I think that I saw, an UFO. As a baker, I go out from time to time to get some air and to observe the sky, which is one of my passions. About 10:00pm, I was already out and, after watching TV, I was looking at shooting stars. To the east, a rising planet was brought to my attention, it was very bright. I supposed it was Jupiter. At 3:30am, when I looked again, I was drawn to this light, but this time not to the south, and not on the ecliptic (if was a planet, i should normally have been lower on the horizon). As I looked at this light, I had the impression that it was moving.
 
This light indeed moved, it moved forward and then turned to the left and I had the impression that it went up to the sky. After that, nothing else. This light was very high in the sky (it seems to me), although I had the impression there was a sound of a breath.
 
The day after, I listened to the radio, but nothing was reported. I tried to contact SOBEPS, but I did not have their phone number anymore, and the Belgacom did not find it.
 
This evening, the 20th of August, I saw at the RTBF news a report on these observations Then I tried to find out a Internet site.
 
I talked about SOBEPS because during a few years, around '68, I was a member.
 
 
Thank you for having read my mail, I am at your disposal."
 
Electronic mail, 10:14pm:
 
I received an e-mail from Mr Jacques Antoine, an experienced Belgian investigator, who kindly sent me scans of several articles published in Belgian regional newspapers. Click on the picture to obtain a readable version (in French). Mr Antoine also confirmed the RTBF report.
 
"L'Ardennais" 12th of August, 1998
 
"L'Ardennais" 13th August, 1998
 
"L'Avenir du Luxembourg" 18th of august, 1998
 
________________________
 
Friday, 21st of August, 1998
 
9:00am, receipt of de la video sent by Mr Lemaire, CEOF :
 
As promised, Mr Lemaire sent a videotape to me, a copy of the original one. Thus I have watched several times the sequence. The image quality looks a bit better than the one shown at the French TV, but I think that it will be difficult to draw something from a graphical point of view. Too many movements of the cameraman, low definition due to the low camera sensitivity (it would have been necessary to go down to 2 lux, even more sensitive...), "noise" generated by tue copy, etc..
 
Here is an image captured from the video.
 
However, the VHS videotape will be sent to Alain (ADV team), so that he can digitalise the sequence and work on it as far as possible. It will certainly take time. Our conclusions will be sent to CEOF. The digitalisation of the sequence will also be published in our site.
 
On the other hand, if the images seem not to be satisfying, the soundtrack (the two young witnesses conversation and the background) are more interesting. This part of the record was cut off during the French TV broadcast. I can easily understand why. I would say the commentaries are not really polite. According to the witness excitation and the "spontaneous" aspect of the recording, their language does not seem to fit the French television standards. ;-) Because of that, you missed the UFO's sound...
 
Thus we fix the problem:
 
Click here to listen to the video soundtrack shown at the French TV.
 
Personally, I have the impression that it is a far reactor sound, or deliberately deafened. We can not really say it is a breath... or a real "deep" sound. But there is a noise, which I hardly dare to call "mechanical"...
 
At this stage, it is not easy to link it to the "Belgian wave" because the data are very different. The object features also differ from the Belgian triangles', which were quiet, slow, sometimes stationary, sometimes moving at a very low altitude (less than 5 metres), accelerating incredibly and turning with right angles, as far I remember.
 
In brief, as I had said previously, this affair has "strangeness level" much lower the Belgian wave's.
 
So far, I have the feeling that the UFO could be a "UP" (Uunidentified Plane). But I want to be prudent and to wait for the later analysis. It would be important that the French army tell us its version or judgement. It seems highly improbable that radar did not detect anything. I could understand that civilian controls was eluded, but not the French military radar system. Neither were the Belgian's and German's.
 
Moreover, co-operation agreements exist about the European space survey.
 
If this object is not Frenchn can it be Russian or American and fly other the French territory? That is the question asked by many people! And everybody answers: "No, it is not possible! If they were caught in the act, it would be a major diplomatic incident!" It was also what I thought, till some months ago... But we were wrong!
 
In fact, it exists an international treaty, signed in 1992 in Sweden, called 'Open Skies"! Scoop! This treaty allows unarmed military planes to freely fly over the signatory countries! The first rehash was written in '55 by Eishenower. The idea was relaunched in '89 by Georges Bush and was given shape to in '92. I can already hear some people asking "Proofs!". Well I advice to connect the Navy site: http://www.nawcwpns.navy.mil/~treaty/Open_Skies.html or the USAF 30th Space Wing: http://www.vafb.af.mil/orgs/cct/opensky.htm or the "On-Site Inspection Agency" (OSIA): http://www.osia.mil/ops/mainpg/os.html What is more official that official sites of official American army?
 
To sum up, the USA can fly over any area of the French territory and take photos or other data. So can the French. Nothing prevents them -if they respect the quota imposed by the treaty- to fly over American military areas.
 
Who has signed this treaty? Almost everyone, except China. Russia, Ukraine, Byelorussia, France, Belgium, Germany, England, the United States, Canada, etc. have signed it. I don't think that I commit myself if I say that the northern hemisphere is, for the moment, "militarily" unified. In a few years, China should also sign. Some years ago, it signed "co-operation" pact for peace in the Pacific Ocean with Russia, Japan, Australia, Canada and the United States. This information was broadcast at the TV "Euronews". I don't really remember the date (surely after '92).
 
Therefore, we can wonder about the identity of a potential enemy. While the American government and all the soldiers tell us that that the battle field moves to the cities (bomb attacks, urban guerrillas, civil wars), they are preparing a strategic, and no tactic, global defence arsenal (see, for example, our article about the MIRACL power laser).
 
Do we have to expect a Iraqi air attack? Of course, no. What is the marginal nation (out of the present world-unification line), which could cause us troubles? That is where these UFO stories can lead ;-) These were the present reflections.
 
Thierry
 
______________________
 
Saturday, 22nd, Sunday, 23rd and Monday, 24th of August '98.
 
We received account from a person living in the Liege region, Belgium, who, with relatives, would have made the following observation:
 
"(...) In front of me, was, more or less 40km away, Maastricht, Holland. The object came from there at high speed and following a random trajectory (it went up, down, and so on). The light was so decreased by its speed, nor by its trajectory. It approached us up to 1km and then went up vertically over 100m, in 2 seconds!!!!!! It came down again and went away to my left following again a "crazy" trajectory. I could not see the object's shape but it was very bright and apparently did not have a light in the centre. But all over his surface and around, was an very intense light. The object was at least 50-metre diameter. (...)"
 
Mr Lemaire, CEOF responsible of the Ardennes region, pointed out to me, by fax, the 22nd of August, that not all the details from the accounts he received were told to the media, for preserving the objectivity of further declarations that could be made after the TV and press release, the 13th.
 
Jean-Luc Lemaire also informed me that he almost does not receive any new account.
 
Thus we can say that it is not a "wave", if we take into account the French- Belgian observations. On the other hand, the English-speaking newsgroups are full of accounts about flying triangles in Chile, in the United States and in Germany. The only constant there is the triangular shape of the objects. Objectively, it is impossible to take all those stories into account.
 
So far, according to the "features" of the Ardennes object, I repeat we can not say that it has a high strangeness level.
 
It is also funny to note that the affair comes right after the Sturrock report and the publication of a special issue of the French magazine "VSD", called "UFO: the scientific proofs".
 
Also it is surprising to hear, after this affair, the French sociologist Pierre Lagrange congratulates the SOS OVNI organisation, of which the responsible, Perry Petrakis, works for the "X-Factor" the French issue magazine, but also for their own publication "Phénoména". In the last issue of this magazine, is a description of Jean-Jacques Vélasco, the SEPRA director (Atmospheric Phenomenon Expert Service) of CNES, (Space Study National Centre), where he is shown as a marginal. I think this article is out of place according to the fact that Mr Vélasco lost his son recently.
 
Finally, Yves, of our "SCI" team, contacted Mr Petrakis in order to know his position about the events in the Ardennes. In brief, he and other SOS OVNI members think, according to the broadcast video, that the phenomenon could be a plane. However, it does not give more information. Thus, we will need to connect on the organisation Minitel server (not free), or to buy the next issue of Phénoména, to learn more...





SIGHTINGS HOMEPAGE