AVIGNON (84) 03.07.2021

During the night of 2–3 July 2021, a witness was in his courtyard watching the sky, something he did daily. He saw a dark grey-to-black object shaped like a flat V move west to east directly overhead. He aimed a handheld laser at it and reported that the light “crackled” on contact, revealing honeycomb-like cells on its surface. He followed it eastwards, noting steady speed and altitude. After about 300–400 m it made a smooth, controlled U-turn towards him. Still pointing the laser, he became intensely apprehensive and felt weak in the legs. It slowed above him, seemingly almost hovering, then accelerated abruptly westwards and disappeared. He also reported a luminous object to the south during the preceding 3 nights, apparently growing gradually while making slight movements, and a persistent feeling of being watched. Only 1 account was collected. GEIPAN considered a drone because some fixed-wing flying-wing drones have a V shape (see the investigation report). The absence of angular measurements prevents reliable distance and size estimates and is a major obstacle to assessing this hypothesis. The source also notes that drone overflight is strictly prohibited in the area, particularly at night. GEIPAN considers several elements strong indications of a real phenomenon and correctly perceived shape. The reported laser interaction with the surface supports this, though the laser’s 5,000–8,000 m range does not establish distance. A halo around the UAP would help reveal its silhouette and, in the source’s assessment, exclude an illusory shape despite low contrast between a dark object and the night sky. The evidential strength is nevertheless low: 1 witness, no angular data and no photograph or video. GEIPAN defines evidential strength as the quantity of reliable, objectively supported information collected for an account. Although a real phenomenon is considered probable, the shortage of data makes further investigation particularly difficult. GEIPAN classifies the case C: the lack of substantiated data prevents a firm conclusion.