An account in Seine-Maritime, France

GEIPAN continues to publish all of its archives on its public website www.geipan.fr. Among its publications are old cases classified at the time (A, B, C or D) which are now being re-examined, for the sole purpose of being more relevant in the conclusions. Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classification. This observation case, previously classified D and named LE HAVRE (76) 2006, is part of a set of cases recently re-examined. On December 15, 2006, in the afternoon, several witnesses in the middle of the city observed the slow and silent passage of 7 brown-colored objects at low altitude in the sky. The objects are described as being shaped like "hockey pucks" and maintained a constant heading in their movement. The hypothesis of passive objects carried by the wind, such as balloons, is plausible and the most likely to explain the nature of the UAPs observed by the witnesses (see the investigation report). The testimonial data collected by the Gendarmes as well as their subsequent calculations, such as the direction of movement and the speed of the UAPs as well as their maintenance of a constant heading, are consistent with the measured wind direction. The color and especially the shape (as described by T1 and T2, shaped like a "hockey puck") are not common for balloons, but this cannot invalidate the hypothesis. There are plenty of balloon models, having very diverse shapes and colors. It should be noted that these UAPs were seen in daylight, from an urban area, at low height in the sky (T2 indicates that they passed behind buildings) and for at least 10 minutes. It is highly likely that these UAPs were seen by other people without being perceived as strange, which would lend a bit more credence to the balloon hypothesis. The consistency is correct, with witnesses describing their observation fairly well and gendarmes carrying out the recording and a situation map. One could however regret the absence of angular measurements of the sizes of the UAPs and of their movement, which would have facilitated the calculations of possible dimensions, distances and speeds. Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as B: probable observation of a group of balloons moving in the wind.