BERCK (62) 07.10.2010

This account, submitted on 17 March 2019, concerns an old sighting. On 7 October 2010 at 22:45, the witness was on a beach with a friend when he suddenly saw a huge triangle outlined by white lights at each corner in a cloudy sky. It appeared at the horizon over the sea to the west, approached and passed silently overhead. Surprised, the witnesses did not think to photograph or film it. The observation was brief; the UAP continued inland and the witness lost sight of it. Only 1 account was collected. The case has high strangeness but rather low evidential quality: 2 witnesses, but only 1 late account. It lacks sufficiently precise and reliable data (the French phrase here says “precise and weak,” apparently a wording error; see investigation report). The initially uncertain date was established with considerable confidence from information supplied by the witness. However, the delayed report prevents checks, particularly of traffic at Berck-sur-Mer airfield, although some features suggest a light aircraft landing. The extent of possible influence on the eventual account also cannot be checked: during the long interval, the witness often discussed the sighting with his friend and researched it online, comparing it with famous UAP cases such as Phoenix, Arizona, and Golfech (82). GEIPAN finds it surprising that no additional witnesses reported a very bright object of such large angular size crossing a populated town. Under its methodology, high strangeness requires high evidential quality for classification. GEIPAN classifies the case C: unusable because of insufficient reliable information.