AUTHEZAT (63) 04.07.2012

On 4 July 2012 at 07:20, a motorist on the A75 near Authezat (63) saw a dark round-to-oval object stationary towards the Sancy massif. Six minutes later, on the D2013 between Saint-Amand-Tallende and Aydat near Saint-Saturnin, he saw it again, together with 5 other shapes moving slowly at low altitude. He thought of fighter aircraft. Turning towards Chadrat, he lost sight of them. The observation lasted 8 minutes. No other account was collected. GEIPAN finds moderate evidential substance because the account lacks precision, comes from a single witness and has no photographs. Strangeness is low because the object could be ordinary. The hypotheses considered were an aerostat, a tethered balloon, or a craft used for recreational flying, such as a microlight or paraglider; see the attached report. However, all 3 fit poorly, and missing angular measurements prevent checking estimated size, distance and altitude adequately. The case is classified C: insufficient information.