France became the first country to open its files on UFOs on Thursday
when the national space agency unveiled a website documenting more than
1600 sightings spanning five decades.
The online archives, which will be updated as new cases are reported,
catalogues in minute detail cases ranging from the easily dismissed to
a handful that continue to perplex even hard-nosed scientists.
"It is a world first," says Jacques Patenet, the aeronautical engineer
who heads the office for the study of "non-identified aerospatial
phenomena."
Known as OVNIs in French, UFOs have always generated intense interest
along with countless conspiracy theories about secretive government
cover-ups of findings deemed too sensitive or alarming for public
consumption.
"Cases such as the lady who reported seeing an object that looked like
a flying roll of toilet paper" are clearly not worth investigating,
says Patenet.
But many others involving multiple sightings – in at least one case
involving thousands of people across France – and evidence such as burn
marks and radar trackings showing flight patterns or accelerations that
defy the laws of physics are taken very seriously.

No explanation

A phalanx of beefy security guards formed a
barrier in front of the space agency (CNES) headquarters where the
announcement was made, "to screen out uninvited UFOlogists," an
official explained.
Of the 1600 cases registered since 1954, nearly 25% are classified as
"type D", meaning that "despite good or very good data and credible
witnesses, we are confronted with something we can’t explain", Patenet
says.
On 8 January 1981 outside the town of Trans-en-Provence in southern
France, for example, a man working in a field reported hearing a
strange whistling sound and seeing a saucer-like object about 2.5
metres in diameter land in his field about 50 metres away.

A dull-zinc grey, the saucer took off almost immediately, leaving
burn marks, he told police. Investigators took photos, and then
collected and analysed samples, and to this day no satisfactory
explanation has been made.

Flashing lights

The nearly 1000 witnesses who said they saw
flashing lights in the sky on 5 November 1990, by contrast, had simply
seen a rocket fragment falling back into Earth’s atmosphere.
"We do not have the least proof that extra-terrestrials are behind the
unexplained phenomena," says Patenet, adding: "Nor do we have the least
proof that they aren’t."
The CNES fields between 50 and 100 UFO reports ever year, usually
written up by police. Of these, 10% are the object of on-site
investigations, Patenet says.
Other countries, notably Britain and the US, collect data more or less
systematically about unidentified flying objects. In the US,
information can be requested on a case-by-case basis under the Freedom
of Information Act.

"But we decided to do it the other way around and made everything available to the public," Patenet says.
The aim was to make it easier for scientists and other UFO buffs to access the data for research. The
website
itself – which crashed host servers hours after it was unveiled due to
heavy traffic – is extremely well organised and complete, even
including scanned copies of police reports.

===

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/187422/france_makes_its_official_ufo_files.html

France Makes Its Official UFO Files Public

By Griff
UFOs are something we are all aware of, some people take no notice of
them, some show a mild interest and some study them seriously. Whatever
level of interest people may have about UFOs most people will be
somewhat intrigued by them.
To date countries around the world have been very tight lipped about
the UFO information they possessed, trying their best to keep it from
the general public. Today France made a bold move by becoming the first
country in the world to make its official UFO files available to the
public.

The information has been made available today through a new
website developed by the French national space agency. The UFO
information revealed occurs during a fifty-year time span and includes
1,600 sightings.

The new online UFO archive will receive regular updates when
new UFO sightings occur in France. Each case included on the UFO
website contains every little detail about the sighting, no matter how
unbelievable the sighting may have been. Many of the UFO sightings will
be easy to dismiss or explain, but there are still a number of calls
that have stumped scientists for years.

Jaques Patenet, an aeronautical engineer that heads the
"office for the study of non-identified aerospatial phenomena" has
said, "It is a world first." He then went on to discuss some of the UFO
sightings found on the website. One of the most outlandish reports
Patenent mentioned is "the lady who reported seeing an object that
looked like a flying roll of toilet paper."

There was one case that at first seems quite interesting. This
is because the UFO sighting had thousands of witnesses around France.
The incident occurred on November 5, 1990 and witnesses described
seeing flashing lights in the sky. However when the sighting was
investigated it had a simple explanation. It had apparently been rocket
fragments entering the earth’s atmosphere and burning up.

One of the most intriguing and mystifying UFO sightings in
France happened on January 8, 1981 near the southern village of
Trans-en-Provence. A man who was out working in his field reported the
incident. The man states that he heard an unusual whistling sound and
that he saw a saucer shaped object. The man estimated that the object
was about eight foot wide and that is had landed about 50 yards from
him. The man said that the UFO was dull-zinc grey in colour and that it
took off again within seconds of landing. The UFO left burn marks in
the man’s field. On receiving the sighting report investigators took
samples for analysis from the site and also to photos of the burn marks
left by the UFO.

When Patenet was questioned about the government having
knowledge about extra terrestrial life he gave an answer that does not
answer any questions. Patenet said, "We do not have the least proof
that extra-terrestrials are behind the unexplained phenomena." "Nor do
we have the least proof that they aren’t."

Each year France gets around 50 to 100 UFO sightings reported
to the police. Around 10 percent of these sightings are subject to on
site investigation.

Many other countries systematically collect UFO information.
Two of the biggest collectors are the United States and the United
Kingdom.

The website is currently extremely busy and the unexpected
large amounts of traffic cause the server to crash shortly after
launch. It has a wealth of information that would interest even the
mildly intrigued. Expect the site to be busy and a little slow until it
can make adjustments to service the traffic. At the moment you visitors
to the site will be able to look at around 400 UFO cases. The rest of
the files will be added over the next few months.

www.cnes-geipan.fr

Sources
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070322/wl_afp/sciencespaceufo_070322143210

http://www.playfuls.com/news_005727_France_Opens_Its_Official_UFO_Archives.html

http://www.eux.tv/article.aspx?articleId=5107

More resources