[A13] DE PARIS (75) VERS CAEN (14) 27.01.2012

The case title dates the sighting to 27 January 2012, whereas the narrative gives 21 January. A motorist and his female passenger were traveling on the A13 from Paris toward Caen. Sometime between 16:30 and 17:15, they saw a silent, shiny silver cylinder, initially stationary and then moving very rapidly east to west. It disappeared, leaving a cloud plume. GEIPAN received only 1 account. Investigators considered an aircraft or a cylindrical thermal balloon, gray or transparent, temporarily reflecting sunlight. GEIPAN requested air-force radar tracks to test these explanations. Only 1 track appeared in the area; it was of unusable quality and did not match the account. The questionnaire says the object came from the east and traveled west, but in email exchanges on 22 March 2012 the witness said it came from the northwest. The time was known only to roughly half an hour, too imprecisely for reliable aircraft matching, and the location along the motorway was similarly uncertain. The source states that observed aircraft did not appear on radar, and the sole supplied track was unusable. No solid evidence therefore remained to confirm or reject any explanation. GEIPAN classifies the case C: no determination possible because of insufficient reliable information.