Incident: 7 April 2026, Vernoil-le-Fourrier, Maine-et-Loire, and Burgnac, Haute-Vienne, France. GEIPAN cases 51742 and 51745; both classified A, identified satellite reflections.
One observer described a narrow luminous segment; another compared the passing form with a segmented cigar or caterpillar. GEIPAN connected the reports with the same newly launched satellite group. UKPX keeps the linked observations in one case rather than counting each locality as a different craft.
The Vernoil recording sequence
The 18-page Vernoil investigation describes a dim, pale elongated form travelling steadily and silently. The witness supplied a photograph timed 22:14:08 and two videos beginning 22:14:21 and 22:15:48, lasting 1 minute 18 seconds and 1 minute 15 seconds. The form eventually passed behind the house.
The official case summary gives an overall duration of about four minutes. These are complementary descriptions: two separate clips do not constitute a continuous recording of the entire reported interval.
The shorter Burgnac account
The 16-page Burgnac investigation concerns a brief sight estimated at 20–30 seconds. Its submitted time was around 22:20, although the investigator’s comparison with a later aircraft suggested the luminous form had appeared earlier. Two people were mentioned, but only one formal questionnaire formed the documented testimony.
There was no Burgnac photograph in that record. Its descriptive resemblance to the Vernoil material therefore supports comparison without creating a second photographed track. The Burgnac summary explicitly links the cases.
The orbital interpretation
GEIPAN compared the appearance and timings with predicted satellite passages. Its analysis favoured the 18 SpaceSail/Qianfan satellites launched earlier that day in Polar Group 07. The inquiry used orbital predictions and JSatTrak comparisons, finding a north-east-to-south passage around the relevant time. A Starlink alternative was considered unsuitable for the observations.
The source documents disagree over the numerical range assigned to the Qianfan satellites: the summary’s range and a longer range in the investigation do not agree. This entry uses the launch group and number deployed, without silently choosing a serial range. Nor does it claim the videos individually resolve all 18 satellites.
What the identification establishes
Class A is GEIPAN’s identified category. The published interpretation is a compact train of sunlit satellites seen as an extended form, rather than an unexplained solid cigar. The investigation is valuable because it joins description, timed material and an explicit orbital comparison.
UKPX read both investigation reports and reviewed their key figures. It has not obtained the original witness video files or independently recomputed the orbital paths. The remaining timing and numbering discrepancies are retained as limits of the public record, without treating them as a separate extraordinary event.
Location and source record
Approximate Vernoil-le-Fourrier commune-centre reference, not a private garden or satellite position. Burgnac is a separate viewing locality in the same investigation chain. Coordinates follow the checked geographical reference.
UKPX reference added 6 November 2026. Incident year: 2026. Browse Historical Cases · More UFO / UAP / USO references.