BEZENET (03) 05.07.2022

On the evening of 5 July 2022, a resident of Bézenet (03) was standing in the doorway of his south-facing home when he saw 2 points of light pass overhead from west to east. They emitted harsh white stroboscopic flashes and moved together, side by side, at a speed he compared to that of a conventional satellite. He likened their separation to the distance between the wingtips of a glider passing a few metres above the ground. He heard a faint airliner-like sound, but its apparent movement did not correspond to that of the lights. GEIPAN rates the strangeness as low and the evidential support as good: there was one witness and no photograph, but the account was fairly precise. It identifies a formation of military aircraft returning from a mission (see the investigation report). Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential support is the amount of information considered reliable and objectively established that has been collected for an account. The description strongly suggests aircraft. The reported stroboscopic lights resemble flashing white anti-collision lights, which can be the only lights switched on depending on mission requirements. The analysis also refers to the faint sound the witness heard as resembling a troop-transport aircraft. The French Air and Space Force's Air Operations Planning, Command and Air Defence Centre (CAPCODA) confirmed that a formation of military aircraft returning from a mission passed over the observation site at the stated time, on a trajectory fully consistent with that of the lights. GEIPAN concludes that the witness saw 2 of these 3 aircraft. It classifies the case A: observation of a formation of military aircraft.