Sighting in Aix-en-Provence, July 5, 2014

At 10:10 p.m., the witness looked out of a window and saw an orange point of light moving away without a sound. The object came to a stop, then vanished, shooting away quickly.

The investigation linked the sighting to a Thai lantern. An orange ball seen on a Saturday night and drifting with the wind (a light south-west to south wind, recorded at Marignane) fit a lantern released at the end of a party. The possibility of an aircraft seen head-on close to landing, which can look like a yellow or orange ball, was set aside: although the witness lived near an aerodrome, they were not in line with the runways, and they knew the aviation world well.

Two details fit a lantern poorly: the object stopped and then set off again, and it disappeared at an extraordinary speed. However, the wind was weak, and local terrain can make wind irregular. As for the lantern's burner flame, it goes out quickly and gradually, which witnesses often take for the object moving away. Because the case was only mildly strange, the GEIPAN did not ask for an on-site investigation and classed it B: probable Thai lantern.