ELLECOURT (76) 02.11.2025

On 2 November 2025 at about 23:25, 2 witnesses at home in Ellecourt, Seine-Maritime, saw unusual lights in the night sky. They first watched through a window, then went outside for a clearer view of approximately 10 slowly moving points. The group travelled broadly from south-southwest to northeast, starting at an estimated elevation of 30° and passing nearly overhead. Although the overall heading appeared steady, individual movements seemed disorderly during the 5–10-minute sighting. Initially red and flashing, the lights were described as becoming white and steady before gradually disappearing northeastward. No sound was heard. Three smartphone videos made near the end show white flashing points, differing from the verbal description of steady white lights. Their resolution reveals no precise shape or structure. GEIPAN judged the evidential support moderate. The account was broadly consistent, but only T1 completed a technical questionnaire, and the 3 videos, though confirming lights in the sky, were too limited in quality for detailed analysis or formal identification. GEIPAN defines evidential support as the amount of information collected for an account that is considered reliable and objectively established. After analysis, residual strangeness remained moderate. The number of lights, silence and changing appearance were unusual to the witnesses, but there were no abrupt manoeuvres or behaviours incompatible with known aerial objects. GEIPAN examined several hypotheses. It ruled out aeroplanes and helicopters because of the silence, numerous dispersed lights and unsuitable lighting behaviour. The air-traffic plot supplied by CAPCODA also showed no track matching the UAP path. It excluded celestial objects and satellites because of the low apparent altitude, disorderly movements, colour change and flashing. A group of drones was preferred as compatible with several features reported by T1: numerous objects, slow apparent speed, no audible sound, broadly coordinated movement and a changing light pattern. T1's mapped reconstruction and analysis of the local surroundings revealed no major inconsistency with that hypothesis. Inquiries to drone companies that might operate in the area nevertheless received negative responses. No radar information indicating unconventional aerial objects was found for the period; GEIPAN also noted that civil radar was unsuitable for detecting small drones. Despite a compatible hypothesis, the available objective data were insufficient to identify the phenomenon. GEIPAN classified the case C. CAPCODA is the French Air and Space Force's Centre Air de planification et de conduite des opérations et de défense aérienne, its air operations planning, command and air-defence centre.