Rumbling in Vend�e, France

On 26 November 2007 between 6:20 pm and 6:35 pm, a witness driving home with her son in the car observed three yellow luminous points in a triangle with a red light in the centre in a clear sky. The altitude seemed low and the phenomenon was stationary. A rumbling sound was perceived by the witnesses. The driver slowed down to observe the phenomenon and her son opened the window and leaned his head outside to see better. He then suffered intense headaches and a nervous crisis that caused great fright in the mother. The investigation established precisely the position of the witnesses' vehicle at 46°46'39N and 1°13'48W as well as the direction of observation towards the NNE. Since the observation took place at an unspecified time between 6:20 pm and 6:35 pm local time, all aircraft movements over Nantes and La Roche sur Yon between 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm were reconstructed with the effective help of the DGAC services in Nantes. Seven aircraft were identified with a flight level low enough to be clearly distinguished from the ground (below FL020). The GEIPAN investigation establishes without any doubt that the observation made by the witnesses is that of flight LXPRG at 6:27'16" (local time) on approach to La Roche sur Yon airport. Since the medical analysis brought nothing, one should probably look for effects linked to the stress of an unexplained observation. The headache could have been triggered by the child's bad position when sticking his head out of the window of the moving car, fear having done the rest, as well as stress communicated by the mother already worried about knowing her other younger son alone at home.