Sighting in Bazas, January 3, 2025

At around 3 a.m., the witness was woken by strong white lights on the ground to the south. Sometimes swirling, they were brighter than car headlights and stayed visible for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Around 4:15 a.m., in the same direction, the witness saw what looked like a string of lights in several colors, some steady and some flashing. It stayed in place for 15 to 20 minutes, then vanished suddenly. The witness filmed a video of a little over a minute. Around 4:30 a.m., they noticed two more flashing lights high in the sky, a white one to the south/south-east and a reddish one to the south-east. Both were visible for about 15 minutes before going out abruptly.

The witness first considered a drone, then dismissed the idea after linking all four observations together. GEIPAN found the last two lights offered too little information to identify: each was a single flashing light, neither filmed nor photographed, with no established link to the earlier observations and little strangeness. They were not studied further. The testimony was rated as consistent for the first two observations, especially the second. It came from a single witness but was complete, and was gathered two days after the events.

Having ruled out an aircraft, GEIPAN found a drone plausible. The varied colors, steady or flashing, do not match aviation lights and are typical of customized drones. In the line of sight lies a large meadow that is easy to reach, far enough from homes, and offers a wide view of the village. The object stayed close to the ground, at the boundary between the prohibited zone and the 60 m maximum permitted height. IPACO video analysis placed it between the witness and its operator, roughly 100 to 340 m away, for a standard drone size of 30 to 100 cm. Night flying is prohibited, however. The case was classified B: probable observation of a recreational drone.