Sighting in Cognac, August 20, 2021

At about 5 p.m., the witness was at home watching an airliner heading north. Suddenly something else caught their eye: an object crossing the airliner's path and flying due south, almost along the opposite axis to the plane. It was roughly rectangular and light grey, like an aircraft whose underside reflects clouds and looks almost white.

Within about a second, the object slowed sharply until it came to a complete stop, then moved backwards for a fraction of a second, without turning, as if in reverse. It then set off at a right angle, due west, regaining its cruising speed almost instantly. It had no lights and no other identifiable structure. Only one witness account was collected.

GEIPAN could not put forward any hypothesis from the remote investigation. The phenomenon resembled nothing known, and its movement (a stop, a brief backward motion and a 90° turn) and its appearance were noted as significant oddities. The witness did not reply to requests for details about the trajectory and speed, and refused any further contact, which prevented an on-site investigation. Because of the lack of consolidated data, the case was classified C, even though its strangeness appeared high.