Sighting in Annecy, January 16, 2013

The witness was riding a chairlift on the Bauge side of the slope when they saw an object pass directly overhead. It was cigar-shaped and matt grey, moving slowly across the sky along a straight path running northwest to southwest. The witness saw the same thing twice, about half an hour apart. No other witness came forward.

Both sightings took place under strictly identical conditions. The investigation considered an airliner for two reasons: the witness said they had not seen any aircraft, even though one was well within their field of view, and the description matched in every respect (shape, colour and movement). The second sighting, however, could not be characterised. Going by the times the witness gave, the Airbus A-320 that was identified had already gone by and could not have been in the same place. It may therefore have been a second aircraft, perhaps a military one and so not tracked by Flightradar24, on the same air route.

After fieldwork, an interview with the witness and a search for other witnesses through the press, GEIPAN classified the case as B: probable sightings of aircraft.