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[Slideshow + video] Volutes in the Alsace sky: air combat training

Many Alsatians saw the traces of one or more planes with an unusual trajectory, this Tuesday, shortly after 9 a.m.

By FT, with CT, JFS and RG - Apr 27, 2021 at 12:15 | updated on 05 May 2021 at 15:56 - Reading time: 3 min

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4:45 p.m. - End of the mystery: as several specialists contacted this Tuesday morning already suggested, the volutes observed in the skies of Alsace had for origin fighter planes in exercise, the Army indicated.

"Today between 9 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. in the air zone which corresponds to Alsace, two Rafale from the BA113 of Saint-Dizier conducted air combat training which explains the condensation trails", indicates Colonel Stéphane Spet, spokesperson for the French Air and Space Force.

"Despite the current health situation, the Air and Space Army is continuing its preparation for combat, to be at the rendezvous of operations: the world is no less dangerous, this type of training remains essential in the context of maintaining the skills of the technical know-how of our crews, required to be engaged in similar conditions for real operations," he concludes.

Several witnesses had the reflex to film the arabesques left by the aircraft, this Tuesday morning.

1:45 p.m. - Following the appeal launched at midday, dozens of witnesses reported seeing volutes within a radius of about thirty kilometers around Colmar, each going there from their description. Some have seen a turtle, a four-leaf clover, the "infinite" sign or, more frequently, a pretzel...

"An ultra-fast vertical climb"

"It was a single plane that was going very, very fast, we were impressed on an ultra-fast vertical climb leaving its mark, says Stéphane, from Ensisheim. We wondered what he wanted to do, a heart? A clover? It was even joked that it was a UFO having fun given the impressive speed."

"I wondered if the plane had a problem and had to turn around," said a reader, who like many has since wondered about her sighting. Others have offered an explanation, whether they are followers of the conspiracy theory of chemtrails or specialists in aeronautics.

On the whole, the latter underline the apparent altitude of the phenomenon and lean, like most of the people we have been able to contact so far, for the thesis of fighter aircraft (s) in maneuver.

Find below the images we received. On our side, the checks are ongoing. To be continued, therefore!

12:15 p.m. - It turns and it returns, it goes up, then it goes down: several Haut-Rhinese saw the traces of one or more planes with an unusual trajectory, this Tuesday, shortly after 9 a.m.

This phenomenon was observed a few minutes apart in Gunsbach, then Colmar and Chalampé, with each time these playful curls. "Declaration of love or aircraft in distress?" Asked one of them, no doubt seeing in these curves the outline of a heart.

Contacted about this, Colmar aerodrome indicated that it had not established a link with a craft likely to have left these traces, while the live monitoring site flightradar24 only mentioned at this time an ULM, type WT9... Problem: its trajectory did not pass over the concerned cities, but a good fifteen kilometers to the northeast.

The northeast wind, blowing moderately at this altitude, according to Christophe Mertz, meteorologist at the Alsatian design office Atmo-Risk, could theoretically indeed have made the volutes travel without too much destructuring them. But other questions remain unanswered.

First of all, this tourist flight, which took off from the Vosges and flew over Center-Alsace before going along the Rhine, certainly performed some maneuvers, but nothing comparable to the volutes observed. Moreover, are these traces really compatible with those of an ULM?

"A very fast jet plane"

For Luc Lancia, president of the Saint-Dié Remomeix flying club, this is highly improbable. "There is always a part of doubt, but an ultralight which makes this kind of trace, I have never seen one!, he observes. We can see that they are very precise, it indicates a plane with very quick reaction."

Comments corroborated by an expert, according to which these arabesques "clearly resemble an air and space fighter training mission".

At the end of the morning, the mystery is not yet solved with certainty...