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ALSACAT:

ALSACAT is my comprehensive catalog of UFO sighting reports in Alsace, the region is the North-East of France, whether they are "explained" or "unexplained".

The ALSACAT catalog is made of case files with a case number, summary, quantitative information (date, location, number of witnesses...), classifications, all sources mentioning the case with their references, a discussion of the case in order to evaluate its causes, and a history of the changes made to the file. A general index and thematic sub-catalogs give access to these Alsatian case files.

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Case of Rixheim, on September 20, 2004:

Case number:

ALSACAT-2004-09-20-RIXHEIM-1

Summary:

On September 21, 2004, the Alsatian ufology association SPICA reported on a UFO web forum a sighting by "Henri" on September 20, 2004, at 10:23 p.m. from Rixheim in the Haut-Rhin.

He said he was looking at the sky to the west as the high cloud cover was to be about 5000 meters because airliners in lading approach of the Basel - Mulhouse Airport were visible, their path passing just above his house.

He also saw planes passing above, in transit, higher than 4000 meters.

Suddenly his gaze was attracted to something that was moving under the clouds in a south to north direction: seven to eight dots of light that moved at exactly the same speed, forming a large triangle, like an arrowhead.

He estimated the distance between these dots as being of more than 300 meters, compared to the lights of the airliners flying at this height.

To observe, this he had raised his head a little, at an angle of about 60°. The phenomenon lasted about 6 or 7 seconds and it "disappeared" to the north towards the Vosges.

Soon after, he saw airliners in landing approach, and he thinks they may have observed the phenomenon too.

Data:

Temporal data:

Date: September 20, 2004
Time: 10:23 p.m.
Duration: ~6-7 seconds.
First known report date: September 21, 2004
Reporting delay: Hour, 1 day.

Geographical data:

Department: Haut-Rhin
City: Rixheim
Place: ?
Latitude: 47.744
Longitude: 7.397
Uncertainty radius: 2 km

Witnesses data:

Number of alleged witnesses: 1
Number of known witnesses: 1
Number of named witnesses: 0
Witness(es) ages: Adult or aged.
Witness(es) types: Male.

Ufology data:

Reporting channel: ?
Type of location: ?
Visibility conditions: Night
UFO observed: Yes
UFO arrival observed: No
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: ?

Classifications:

Hynek: NL
ALSACAT: Possible jet fighters formation.

Sources:

[Ref. spa2:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA" ON THE R.I.O WEB FORUM:

Fw: Alerting

Spica.57

Sept. 21, 2004

Henri signals

City = RIXHEIM

Department = Haut-Rhin

Zipcode = 68170

Country = F

Dateobs = 20/09/2004

Timeobs = 22:23 P.M.

comments = That day September 20 at 10:23 p.m. I look at the sky to the west. The cloud cover is high, about 5000 m because you can see airliners in approach to land at the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse (the flight path passes right over the house) but we also see planes flying high in transit thus higher than 4000 m. Suddenly my eyes are attracted to something that moves in a south to north direction. I see 7 to 8 dots of light moving through the cloud cover, exaxtly [sic] at the same speed by forming a large triangle, like an arrowhead. I think the distance between the dots is more than 300 m (compared with position light of planes flying at this height) Observation happens happens [sic] raising the head slightly at an angle of about 60°. The phenomenon lasts about 6 to 7 seconds and disappears to the north towards the Vosges. shortly after some planes are in aproach phase for landing, they may have observed the phenomenon.

The website of the SPICA association
http://www.spica.org

[Ref. spa3:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":

Scan.

RIXHEIM (68) Monday, September 20, 2004 at 10:23 p.m.

Source: SPICA

I look at the sky to the west. The cloud cover is high, about 5000 m because you can see airliners in landing approach at the EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse. Suddenly my view is attracted by something that moves in the direction south to north crumb. I see 7-8 points of light that move under the cloud cover, exactly at the same speed forming a large triangle, like an arrowhead. I think the distance between the dots is over 300 m (compared to the position lights of planes flying at this height). The observation is by raising the head a little at an angle of about 60°. The phenomenon lasts about 6 to 7 seconds and disappears to the north towards the Vosges.

[Ref. spa4:] UFOLOGY GROUP "SPICA":

City Date and hour of observation General shape
Identification
General color
Hypothesis
Conclusion
RIXHEIM Monday 20 September 2004 at 10:23 p.m. luminous dot
Unidentified
information not communicated
None
Unsolved -lack of info

Discussion:

Map.

The duration of the sightings seems to exclude Chinese lanterns.

But I cannot rule out that it would be exhausts and afterburner lights of a formation of jet fighter planes.

Also, we do not know if this was a silent flight: nothing is said about it. And the "V" formation would be explained too.

Afterburner.
Afterburner.

Evaluation:

Possible jet fighters formation.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

File history:

Authoring:

Main author: Patrick Gross
Contributors: None
Reviewers: None
Editor: Patrick Gross

Changes history:

Version: Create/changed by: Date: Description:
0.1 Patrick Gross December 11, 2014 Creation, [spa2].
1.0 Patrick Gross December 11, 2014 First published.
1.1 Patrick Gross May 3, 2015 Addition, [spa3].

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This page was last updated on May 3, 2015.