MONETAY-SUR-ALLIER (03) 02.09.2012

On 2 September 2012 at about 12:25, during a family gathering in Monétay-sur-Allier (03), spelled Montenay-sur-Allier in the French narrative, a witness (T1) saw an apparently stationary white object relatively high in the sky. The French summary describes it as spherical. He drew the others' attention to it, but they showed little interest, thinking it probably a hot-air balloon or another ordinary phenomenon. He fetched his camera and took 2 photographs, the second at a higher zoom setting. He then returned to his activities without watching continuously. The observation spanned about 10 minutes, during which the object did not appear to change position noticeably. GEIPAN collected only 1 account. The witness reported the sighting on 2 January 2016. GEIPAN judges the evidential strength good because 2 photographs support the account. The observation parameters, analysis with IPACO and GEIPAN's experience of such sightings pointed toward a gas-balloon competition, specifically the 56th Gordon Bennett Cup, taking place at the time; see the investigation report. The race started in Switzerland, and prevailing winds carried most of its 17 crews over central France. Several approached the sighting area, as shown on the flight-path map. GEIPAN classifies the case as A: observation of a gas balloon from the 56th Gordon Bennett Cup. Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential strength is the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively substantiated. IPACO is the image-analysis and processing software used by GEIPAN, referenced at IPACO.fr.