RILHAC-RANCON (87) 15.09.2024

On 15 September 2024 at about 22:45, T1 and his wife were on their home's terrace when they saw a black circular shape directly overhead, moving southwest in a clear sky. The shape appeared stationary for several minutes and emitted a flashing white light for a few seconds. T1 ended the observation by going indoors. It had lasted an estimated 5 minutes. Only T1 submitted a completed GEIPAN Technical Questionnaire, on 16 September 2024. On 4 October 2024, GEIPAN requested information from the French Air and Space Force's Air Operations Planning, Command and Air Defence Centre (CAPCODA). Radar tracks received on 11 October showed a gas balloon passing over the witness between 22:43 and 22:49 local time (20:43–20:49 UTC). It followed a straight northeast-to-southwest course at 4,100 feet (1,200 m); see annex 1. The balloon was a Roland JBG-1050 (annex 2) taking part in the Gordon Bennett Cup gas-balloon race, which crossed France from northeast to southwest. The source says it crossed Haute-Vienne on “Monday, 15 September 2024”, while citing a La Montagne article titled “Why so many balloons crossed the Limousin sky on Sunday”. The conflicting weekday wording is retained here. GEIPAN rates the case's evidential support as good, describing a single-witness observation with a detailed account of the UAP and its trajectory but no photograph or video. This single-witness characterization appears in the source despite the opening mention of T1's wife. Under GEIPAN's criteria, evidential support is the amount of information considered reliable and objectively established that has been collected for an account. GEIPAN finds that the reported shape, trajectory and passage time match the gas balloon's flight over the witness's house. It classifies the case A: observation of a crewed gas balloon.