An account in Alpes-Maritimes, France

On September 1, 2006, a witness takes photos of the filming of a movie taking place in his village. While examining the photos, although he made no visual observation, he notices the presence of an unknown spot on one of the shots. He contacts the air transport gendarmerie to make a statement. A meticulous investigation is carried out by the gendarmerie, which makes it possible to rule out the hypothesis of a meteorological phenomenon but brings to light an unknown radar trace made up of 3 plots recorded by the primary radar of Nice at roughly the same period as the taking of the photo and showing a sudden acceleration of the presumed object. This lead will be ruled out (see report) in favor, at a later stage, of the lead of the passage of a commercial aircraft referenced 7637. Furthermore, the company responsible for maintaining the clock on the bell tower stated that it was bothered by pigeons, which, by landing on the hands, disrupt the operation of the clock. There is therefore a colony of pigeons in the bell tower, whose presence is confirmed by the photo in which many pigeons are clearly visible on the ledge under the clock. The hypothesis of a bird passing through the field of the photo is therefore perfectly acceptable, the blur observed possibly being caused by the flapping of wings. The elements at our disposal do not allow us to formally conclude for one or the other of the hypotheses, the passage of a pigeon, despite some uncertainties, seeming to be the explanation to favor over that of the passage of the commercial flight referenced 7637. Whatever hypothesis is retained, a conventional explanation can be provided for this case, which must therefore be classified as "B".