CONDAMINE-CHATELARD (LA) (04) 29.06.1993

GEIPAN continues to publish all its archives on its public website www.geipan.fr. Its publications include older cases classified at the time as A, B, C or D that are now being re-examined solely to improve the accuracy of their conclusions. New technical tools (software) and the investigative experience gained over the years sometimes lead to new observations or even a change in classification. This observation case, formerly classified D and named JAUSIERS (04) 1993, is among the cases recently re-examined (see investigation report). On 29 June 1993 at about 09:00, two witnesses on a National Forest Office patrol saw a dark circular object move silently with “2 tubes hanging underneath in an inverted V.” They saw no smoke or trail, directly or through binoculars. It moved horizontally, abruptly changed direction to ascend and was lost in a cloud. GEIPAN considers a solar or novelty balloon probable. Fine weather and light wind favoured such an object. The inverted V probably led the witnesses to reject their first idea, a weather balloon. It could have been a complex object- or animal-shaped balloon, or three ordinary solar balloons joined together, two elongated. GEIPAN suggests it drifted up the Parpaillon valley on warm airflow from below, then rose vertically in an updraft near terrain at the valley’s head. Although seen at 09:00, it might have been released the previous day, settled as evening cooled and risen again with morning heating. The witnesses also considered a helicopter. GEIPAN rejects that: in the narrow, steep-sided valley it would necessarily have been nearby and recognizable through the binoculars they used, if not by sound. Classification B: probable balloon.