LYON (69) 27.08.1997

On 27 August 1997 around 21:45, three hospital employees in Lyon reported a low-flying object near the hospital's helicopter operating area. Its outline was variously described as triangular or rounded. Two large lights were visible, one briefly directed toward the observers, and one witness saw two silhouettes in a glazed cabin. They did not perceive engine or rotor noise. The witnesses jointly signed a letter and were interviewed separately. T 1 emphasised the directed light, silence and lack of visible blades or exhaust. T 2 repeated some concerns but also reported red and green navigation lights. T 3 described little particular strangeness and acknowledged paying limited attention before returning to a vehicle. GEIPAN considered the accounts imprecise and inconsistent in details, and noted that T 1's alarm might have influenced the others. Initially classified D, the case was re-examined and classified A: helicopter. GEIPAN found the setting, low speed, navigation lights, glazed cabin and ground-directed searchlight consistent with that explanation. Failure to hear a helicopter at 100–200 metres or see its blades at night was not decisive, particularly with attention, emotion and wind affecting perception. The reported cabin silhouettes remain humanlike forms, not evidence of nonhuman occupants. The plate explicitly depicts the official helicopter explanation using an unspecified model and illustrative witnesses, rather than retaining an unexplained alien-craft presentation.