BISCARROSSE (40) 20.08.2024

On Tuesday 20 August 2024, a witness vacationing in Biscarrosse (40) was with his family on Maguide beach beside Lake Cazaux. Lying down and looking toward Sanguinet (40) on the opposite shore, he saw an object on the horizon at about 13:30. He described a metallic-looking sphere moving right to left at a constant, relatively high speed. It remained visible for about 20 seconds before disappearing in the sky above Sanguinet. GEIPAN considers the evidential basis moderate: there was 1 witness, who was unable to film the object. Under its criteria, evidential consistency means the amount of reliable, objectively supported information collected for an account. Aviation checks with CAPCODA, the French Air and Space Force's center for air operations planning, conduct and air defense, found no aircraft flight matching the reported path toward Sanguinet. The investigation favored a windborne object such as a Mylar balloon. Its spherical shape and metallic appearance are typical of such balloons; the summer sighting was near beaches from which one could have been lost; and its horizontal, straight-line movement followed the prevailing wind. GEIPAN explains that its path was quite oblique to the viewing direction, accounting for its rapid disappearance to the witness's left. GEIPAN classifies the case A: observation of a windborne Mylar balloon.