Sighting in Le Bar-sur-Loup, October 26, 2014
Alpes-Maritimes, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France
Sighting from an aircraft on October 26, 2014 in Le Bar-sur-Loup (Alpes-Maritimes, France). According to GEIPAN, it was most probably an animal or natural object (bird, insect, pollen…) (class B).
What happened
Three minutes after taking off from Nice airport, the pilot of a Cessna business aircraft crossed paths with a dark, rectangular patch. It flashed past very close to the windshield on a north-south course while the aircraft was at flight level 115. The event took place at around 15:21 UT. The passenger seated on the pilot's right also caught sight of the object but did not file a report of what they had seen.
The investigation noted that the aircraft was flying over a protected area home to many bird species. Some of these are black, large, active by day and able to fly at the altitude of the aircraft. On the basis of these elements, the GEIPAN classified the case as B: it was probably a large bird (eagle, falcon, harrier, kite, vulture...) hunting or migrating.
Account rewritten by SkyUnknown from the investigation report published by GEIPAN (CNES). The original text and case documents are on the official record.
- Date
- October 26, 2014
- Location
- Le Bar-sur-Loup · town centre
- Type of sighting
- From an aircraft
- Source classification
- B
- Explanation
- Birds, insects, nature
Sources
- See the original document
GEIPAN (CNES)
n° 2014-10-09041
Summary written by SkyUnknown from the facts published by the source.