ALSACAT-2007-12-17-BASRHIN-2
Three ufology sources published a testimony of a person saying he is an air traffic controller and therefore interested in what happens in the sky, who said that on Monday, December 17, 2007, with another person, he saw at about 11:30 p.m. "like a large fireball and close to me (about 200m)," that he thinks was not very high in the sky "in view of its size."
He described: "It was like something resembling a rock with a trail of fire. Lasting 10 seconds it had a diagonal trajectory towards the ground, then suddenly nothing, the "ball" extinguished and disappeared silently (so no explosion)."
The place is given as "above a forest in northern Alsace."
The person added that "of course" none of his colleagues believed him, that no loss of aircraft had been reported, that there had been nothing on the radars at work, and nothing found in the forest.
| Date: | December 17, 2007 |
|---|---|
| Time: | ~11:30 |
| Duration: | 10 secondes. |
| First known report date: | January 2008 |
| Reporting delay: | 2 weeks. |
| Department: | Bas-Rhin |
|---|---|
| City: | ? |
| Place: | Near a forest in northern Alsace, UFO in the sky. |
| Latitude: | 49.946 |
| Longitude: | 7.737 |
| Uncertainty radius: | 50 km |
| Number of alleged witnesses: | 2 |
|---|---|
| Number of known witnesses: | 1 |
| Number of named witnesses: | 0 |
| Witness(es) ages: | Adult. |
| Witness(es) types: | Male air traffic controller and someone else. |
| Reporting channel: | By the web to UFO websites. |
|---|---|
| Type of location: | Near a forest, UFO in the sky. |
| Visibility conditions: | Night. |
| UFO observed: | Yes |
| UFO arrival observed: | ? |
| UFO departure observed: | Yes |
| Entities: | No |
| Photographs: | No. |
| Sketch(s) by witness(es): | No. |
| Sketch(es) approved by witness(es): | No. |
| Witness(es) feelings: | ? |
| Witnesses interpretation: | ? |
| Hynek: | NL |
|---|---|
| ALSACAT: | Meteor. |
[Ref. spa1:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":
Alsace of the North (67) Monday, December 17, 2007
Source: SPICA
I saw Monday, December 17th around 11:30 p.m. like a large ball of fire and close to me (about 200m), and which I think was not very high in the sky given its size.It was like a thing resembling a rock with a trail of fire. Lasting 10 seconds it had a diagonal trajectory towards the ground, then suddenly nothing, the "ball" is extinct and disappeared silently (so no explosion). It happened above a forest in northern Alsace. I am an air traffic controller and therefore interested in what is happening in our sky. Of course nobody believed me at work. No loss of aircraft reported, nothing on our radar and nothing in the forest. What reassures me is that we are 2 who saw the same thing.
[Ref. rnc1:] "RESEAU NATIONAL CIVIL DE SURVEILLANCE DU CIEL":
12/17/2007 - 11:30 p.m. - Bas-Rhin (67) - Mobile fire ball
Witness report deposited on the website of the SPICA association: www.spica.org
Quote:
Well here it is, I've seen around 11:30 p.m. Monday, December 17 like a ball of fire of rather large size and close to me (about 200m) and which, I think, was not very high in the sky given its size. .. in short, it felt like something resembling a rock with a trail of fire... it lasted 10 seconds and had a diagonal trajectory towards the ground... then suddenly nothing, the "ball" was extinct and disappeared seilently (so no explosion)... it happened above a forest in Northern Alsace.... I am an air traffic controller and therefore interested in what happens in our sky... Of course nobody believed me at work... ... that's normal... so so... No aircraft reported missing, nothing on our radar and nothing in the forest... what reassures me is that we were 2 who saw the same thing...
[Ref. cue1:] "LA CENTRALE UFOLOGIQUE":
UFO testimony
Map of the testimonies deposited on the network of La Centrale Ufologique so far
Bas-Rhin (precise location not communicated) 12/17/07
So, well, I've seen around 23:30 Monday, December 17 like a ball of fire of rather large size and close to me (about 200m), and which I think was not very high in the sky in view of its size.. ...
in short, it looked like a thing similar to a rock with a trail of fire .... it lasted 10s and had a diagonal trajectory towards the ground ..... then suddenly nothing, the "ball" went off and disappeared silently (so no explosion)
it happened above a foredt in northern alsace....
I an air traffic controller and therefore interested in what is happening in our sky ..... ofcourse nobody believed me at work ... normal ....
so so....no loss of aircraft reported, nothing on our radar and nothing in the forest.....
what reassures me is that we were 2 who saw the same thing.
An air traffic controller in his job do not look at all at the sky, he looks on symbols on screens showing air traffic. It is not very surprising that there he could not recognize a meteor. What matters is that he describes very well, "something resembling a rock with a trail of fire."
I'm not even surprised anymore that three UFO groups published his story without even understanding what was described, or at least without mentioning possibility of a meteor, all claiming it is a "UFO sighting." Is it because one still does not understand in 2007 that a visual estimate of distance to an unknown object seen just 10 seconds is worthless since it is not within the 50 meters allowing stereoscopic vision, and when there is no landmark behind to give a maximum distance?
Should I add that ordinary radar sets can not detect meteors, as they are much too high? There was little chance that the potential meteorite would have fallen in the forest next to the witnesses, as meteors are usually 80 kilometers up in the sky, so that they could fall a thousand kilometers away from the observers?
Finally, from December 7 to 17, the Earth is under the fire of the Geminids meteor shower.
Meteor.
* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.
| Main author: | Patrick Gross |
|---|---|
| Contributors: | None |
| Reviewers: | None |
| Editor: | Patrick Gross |
| Version: | Create/changed by: | Date: | Description: |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | Patrick Gross | July 22, 2015 | Creation, [spa1], [cue1], [rnc1]. |
| 1.0 | Patrick Gross | July 22, 2015 | First published. |
