Vaucluse, France · 2013-07-05 · from the GEIPAN archive
On July 5, 2013 between 10:40 PM and 11:05 PM, a motorist and his partner were intrigued by the silent movements of several white lights in the sky. Other motorists also stopped to look at the phenomenon. Only one testimony was collected. The description given by the witness is entirely consistent with the Patrouille de France on a night exercise; his testimony is very similar to other testimonies of this annual event (first Friday of July). Like many witnesses, he was surprised by the silence of the phenomenon, which is entirely explainable by the great observation distance and because he was facing the aircraft; this misjudgment of distance also made the movement of the aircraft seem too slow to him. The number of light points that can be distinguished depends on the geometry of the formation: some can hide another. This testimony well illustrates the misinterpretation that can be made of a phenomenon, simply because one misjudges the distance to the phenomenon; this estimation is almost impossible to make a priori, even for an experienced observer. The headlights of these Alpha Jets are very powerful, and make one believe the craft are closer than they are. A very clear sky can also increase this illusion of proximity. The Patrouille de France did confirm that on that day, the maneuvers took place until 11:13 PM. This case is classified "A": observation of the Patrouille de France.
What stood out: moving in formation
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This is an official case file of GEIPAN, the French space agency's unidentified aerospace phenomena office, machine translated from French. The original text and the full investigation file are at geipan.fr. We reproduce it with thanks and remove anything on request.
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