Dear Madam, dear Sir,
You have directly witnessed, somewhere in France, an aerospace phenomenon that you found puzzling and you want to know whether or not it can be explained rationally.
The French Space Agency (CNES) and GEIPAN, its special department dedicated to analysing and explaining Unidentified Aerospace Phenomena (UAP), offer you two different approaches in order to help you understand your observation:
• First, visit our website www.geipan.fr and read the «Guide d’identification des PANs» (Guide on how to identify UAPs; only in French) where you may find an explanation for what you saw.
• If you do not find an explanation, complete the following questionnaire which will enable us to open an investigation. Please note:
o The questionnaire must be individual and completed by the eye-witness him/herself
o The questionnaire must only concern a single observation. In case of multiple UAPs, please complete a questionnaire for each observation.
Your contribution is of great value for us and may be unique. We will then ask you to tell us what you saw by answering specific questions, making drawings and sketches or providing photos to support your description.
It is extremely important that you carefully follow the instructions for each step, to allow us to collect the maximum of information about the phenomenon you observed. There is no reason to worry in any way about telling us your story, or to feel foolish, as we are perfectly used to collecting this kind of testimony.
You will receive a personal copy of the conclusions of our analysis. Once anonymized, your testimony will be published on our website (www.geipan.fr and then see the red menu tab «Recherche de cas»).
We should like to thank you in advance for your contribution to our research.
Head of GEIPAN
What we ask you now is to report the maximum of information about your observation. The most important thing is not to omit anything: investigations often depend on small details. For that reason, do not hesitate to provide all information you have, even if your memory is incomplete or if some elements seem trivial. In case you are unsure of certain parts of the events, just tell us, but once again, do not omit anything. We have to be able to visualize everything you saw, exactly as if we wanted to make a movie based on your observation.
You can use this page to tell us your story and continue on separate sheets if needed.
Write hereafter the story of your sighting:
…
Please answer all questions, even if you have already given the information.
What were you doing just before the observation?
Exact location of the observation site (street, city…):
Where were you exactly? (If you were in a building, please state on which floor and whether you were looking through a window. If you were in a vehicle, at what speed you were travelling, or were you stationary?)
Date of the observation: ………day/………month/…………….year
Time (start) in local time, hours and minutes:
Duration, or time the observation ended in hours, minutes, seconds:
Where they any other witnesses of the same phenomenon? If yes, how many: …………………………..
Please ask them to contact us too, using the information listed at the last page of this document.
What is your relationship with these other witnesses? (Family, friends, colleagues, neighbours)
Observation was: continuous / discontinuous
(Delete or erase as appropriate)
Specify the phases of observation and how it ended.
Did you see the phenomenon directly, with your own eyes? Yes / No
(Delete or erase as appropriate)
Did you observe the phenomenon through an instrument? (Prescription glasses or sunglasses, binoculars, camera or film camera, telescope…) If yes, please specify the model.
Weather conditions (clear sky, clouds, wind, storm, fog, mist, rain, snow, conditions that changed during the observation…):
Astronomical conditions(remember the position of the Moon, the Sun, whether or not you saw stars or planets…):
What equipment was working during the observation? (Headlights, radio, TV, lights…)
Known sources of noise during the observation (TV or radio, passing vehicles, aeroplanes, thunder…):
Don’t hesitate to compare it to known objects
Number (single, multiple, or a single object that then divided up):
Shape:
Colour:
How much light did it produce? (Compare with known heavenly bodies such as Venus, the Moon, or a street-light, car headlights, house lights…)
Did it have a tail or a halo? If so, what colour was it?
Apparent size of the object (give the dimensions by comparison with a familiar object, and/or by using a graduated ruler held at arm’s length):
Did you notice any noise coming from the phenomenon? (Whistling, buzzing, bangs, or comparison with any known noise)
Approximate distance between yourself and the UAP, the phenomenon observed(state whether or not the object moved behind or in front of some part of the landscape):
Direction from which the UAP appeared (North, South, South-West…; or towards or away from some visual or geographic landmark):
Direction in which the UAP was going before it disappeared (North, South, South-West…; or towards or away from some visual or geographic landmark):
Height at which the UAP appeared, with respect to the horizon (the horizon = 0°, the zenith = 90°):
Height at which the UAP disappeared, with respect to the horizon (the horizon = 0°, the zenith = 90°):
Trajectory of the phenomenon (straight, rising or descending line, whether or not it changed direction, curved trajectory…):
How much of the sky did the UAP cross during the observation (e.g. a quarter of the sky, 30 to 40° with respect to the horizon…):
Effect(s) on the environment (mark(s) on the ground, effect(s) on the animals, on equipments…):
To reconstruct the «film» of your observation, we will need as much information as possible. In practical terms, this means that we must understand everything, from the beginning to the end, regarding your observation, and know the travelling direction of the phenomenon and its altitude. This step is crucial.
We suggest three complementary methods:
①
Take a picture of the environment showing the view that you saw during the observation. Don’t hesitate to draw what you saw onto the photo or photos.
②
Make one or more drawings or sketches of your observation, reproducing the scene just as you saw it, not forgetting the environment. Include as many details as you can in order to give us an accurate impression of the scene.
You may draw your sketch(es) in any way you like, but it is important to get the colours as close as possible to what you saw, especially if there was little contrast between the phenomenon and the environment. Try to be as accurate as possible, even if this implies writing explanations on the drawing itself.
You do not have to be talented in drawing. The important thing is to make us understand what you saw in a schematic way. Please do your drawing(s) on the next page.
③
Illustrate the circumstances of your observation with one or more ground plans. The best way, if you can, is to give a bird’s eye view. To do this, you could print off the location of your observation using Google Maps (http://maps.google.fr) or Geoportail (http://www.geoportail.gouv.fr/accueil), and then add your position(s) and the directions of your observation to it.
How to add comments to a photo or a map?
If you are familiar with image-editing software (Photoshop, GIMP, Paint, Illustrator, etc.): use one of these and send us a file in .jpg, .png, or .pdf format.
If you are not familiar with these programs or you do not have access to them: print out the map or photo, draw/write on it and join it to the paper file ; or scan/photograph the result, then send us a file in .jpg, .png, or .pdf format.
Use this page to make a drawing or a sketch of your observation.
You can do it in any way you like.
Describe the emotions you experienced during and after the observation:
What did you do after your observation? Did you talk about what you saw? How did those you told react? Did you undertake any research to understand what you saw?
How do you explain what you observed? Did you think it was a known phenomenon? On what did you base your interpretation? Have you given up trying to understand? If so, when and why?
Before your observation, were you interested at all in strange aerospace phenomena? Did you have a particular opinion on the subject? What was it? What did you base it on?
Has this observation changed your opinion about unidentified aerospace phenomena? If yes, please explain what do you think now.
Do you think science will (ever) be able to explain what you saw?
If you already have testified regarding this UAP, please state before which authority, organisation or person, by deleting or erasing all unnecessary parts of the list below, and by completing the information required (one or more contacts possible):
- Gendarmerie – please give the Brigade and the date:
- Police – please give the Station and the date:
- GEIPAN – please give the name of your contact and the date:
- Private investigator(s) – please give the name of your contact(s) and the date(s):
- UFO enthusiast(s) – please give the name of your contact(s) and the date(s):
- Journalist – please give the name of your contact and the date:
- Website – please give the name/address of the site and the date:
Please indicate which of the documents from the list below you have included or completed.
(Delete or erase as appropriate)
All you have to do now is to complete the authorisation for publication below, so that we can publish your testimony (anonymized) on our website.
Authorisation to publish your observation
(Delete or erase either of the statements if you disagree with them)
• I hereby authorise GEIPAN to publish my testimony on its website, but only after deleting any information that could identify the witnesses (name, address…).
• I hereby authorize GEIPAN to allow the media (printed press, television, Internet) to publish certain parts of my testimony (text, photos – lightly modified if necessary –, drawings, diagrams and/or videos).
Please send us this questionnaire, either:
• By email, with all digital documents to
or
• By post, to the following address, after having taken a copy for your own records:
GEIPAN
Centre national d'études spatiales
DCT/DA/GEIPAN
18 avenue Édouard Belin,
31401 TOULOUSE CEDEX 9
We are very grateful for the time you have spent on this questionnaire.
CNES/GEIPAN Questionnaire standard GEIPAN V3.5-english-juin-2013 page: 13