Page Content (OCR)
the ground. Its departure speed was so extraordinary that it disappeared over the horizon in a few seconds. Captain Fartek reported this incident to the air guard station at the base. He says that other people also saw the phenomenon but didn't dare report it, such as his neighbors and their children. At the time, the base commander instructed Fartek not to talk about this, because he was Captain Fartek was very upset by this experience. He told me when we met that the sighting called into question his perception of what were then called "flying saucers," because he had never believed in them. Now, he acknowledged to me, after seeing this craft he could no longer doubt their existence. Hearing his testimony, I, too, did not have any more doubt about the reality of the phenomenon. In fact, taken together, I found the Farteks' testimony so disturbing that I have been preoccupied by the UFO problem ever since. In 1996, after he became a major, Captain Fartek was interviewed for the COMETA study that I initiated, and even then, after seventeen years, he was still visibly shaken by what he saw. His case was documented in our report, in the section about sightings from the ground. The decision to create a twelve-member "Committee for In-Depth Studies," abbreviated to COMETA, to study UFOs, was made in 1996 within the association of veteran auditors of the French Institute of Higher Studies for National Defense, a government-financed strategic planning agency. Since France had been officially studying UFO cases for twenty years, a substantial database of well-investigated and thoroughly documented cases had been gathered by our government agency. In fact, France was a world leader in this process. We felt it was time for an assessment addressing the current situation around the world and defense issues, and the need for international cooperation in dealing with this global problem. I initiated the private study and became chairman of the group. General Norlain, former commander of the French Tactical Air Force and substantial database of and counselor to the prime minister, and Andre Lebeau, former head of CNES, were happy to help us and agreed to play major roles. All three of us were retired from the military by this time, although until 20021 was chairman of an aeronautical company working mainly for French defense. The investigation lasted from 1996 to 1999. We began by interviewing people who had witnessed UFO phenomena in France and then proceeded to review the best cases that had been recognized and thoroughly studied around the world. We drew on data only from official sources, government authorities, pilots, and the air forces of France and other countries. In the process, we assessed and consolidated the best ° aa The 1999. began We to information research the appropriate French to our authorities. All the testimony we retained for the COMETA Report is supported by tangible pieces of evidence: radar echoes, tracks on the ground, concerned about ridicule. and presented