[D34] DE OYE (71) VERS VARENNE-L'ARCONCE (71) 08.05.2022

On 8 May 2022 at about 02:00–02:15, witnesses T1 and T2 left a nightclub and drove along the D34 toward Varenne-l'Arconce (71). Passenger T2 noticed “an orange thread” in the sky and alerted driver T1. As they drove, it seemed to grow and descend toward the ground. They stopped; the UAP disappeared, then reappeared 5 minutes later. They drove again to approach it but could no longer find it. Smelling something like tires and burned oil, T1 suspected a burning airplane and called the fire service, which arrived at about 02:40. The phenomenon was not seen again. The accounts were well substantiated, with 2 witnesses and precise descriptions but no photograph. GEIPAN defines substantiation as the amount of reliable, objectively established information collected for an account. Analysis of the gendarmerie report identified the first-quarter Moon, very low above the horizon and partly obscured by clouds or ground obstacles (see investigation report). Supporting evidence was: - The Moon's confirmed azimuth, within 1°–4° of the directions reconstructed at 3 viewing points. - A changing shape explainable by partial masking from clouds or obstacles, with clouds confirmed in that direction. - Orange coloring consistent with a low Moon. - An unspecified exact elevation that nevertheless decreased as the Moon set. - Apparent horizontal and vertical movement attributable to the winding, uphill road. - Temporary disappearance as cloud fully covered it. - Final disappearance at very low elevation, allowing clouds or ground obstacles to conceal it completely. Had the UAP been something else, the witnesses should also have seen the Moon in that direction. GEIPAN attributed the tire and burned-oil smell to an entirely independent local cause, which could have contributed to their sense of strangeness. The case was classified A as an observation of the Moon.