Sighting in Beaune-d'Allier, April 30, 1990

At about 10:20 p.m., witnesses at two different spots in the same commune saw a very bright red phenomenon moving silently along a descending path. One of them saw the same thing again about five minutes later. Observation times differed from one witness to another, but all were brief. One witness noted that the phenomenon lit up the forest below it. Its disappearance was described either as the landscape hiding it or as a gradual fading.

The investigation considered two well-known misidentifications: an atmospheric re-entry or a flare fired by a local resident. The slow movement and the length of the sighting resembled an artificial re-entry, but no known re-entry matched the path described. The lighting of the forest suggested the phenomenon was fairly close to the ground. The description closely resembles other GEIPAN cases caused by distress flares, and the explanation fits with a sighting confined to a limited area and a phenomenon that recurred a few minutes later. A genuine distress call would have left a trace, but most such GEIPAN cases involve recreational firing of flares that were expired or no longer serviceable. The case is solid, with several witnesses giving consistent accounts. GEIPAN classed it B: probable misidentification of a distress flare. It had previously been classed D and was reclassified after this re-examination.