Sighting in Lourmarin, July 23, 2021

At about 10:07 pm, the main witness and their partner were driving when they noticed eight yellowish-white lights in the night sky, arranged in a diamond shape. The formation made several curves, moved slowly and was accompanied by a sound like a buzzing, then disappeared. The sighting lasted several minutes, long enough for the witnesses to pull over onto the roadside and film it with an iPhone 6.

The main witness sent a Technical Questionnaire to GEIPAN on 15 May 2025, along with a video, two photographs and a map of the observation area. Because so much time had passed, no radar data could be obtained from the CAPCODA. The questionnaire contains a date mix-up (23 July in one place, 21 July in another), which the late completion could explain.

The investigation noted that the nearby Salon-de-Provence air base is home to the Patrouille de France, which flies at night once or twice a year, usually in July, for the christening of a new class of the école de l'Air. The area has produced similar sightings for years, well documented in photos and videos. A similar sighting at the same time the day before, in Lambesc (13), was confirmed by a CAPCODA radar map as a Patrouille de France night flight. The number of lights, the diamond layout, the curving paths, the blinking and the turbine noise all match the Alpha Jets flown by the Patrouille. The strangeness the witnesses felt is explained by the fact that they were not from the area and were passing through by car. The case's consistency is medium, because of the doubt over the date, though the video is a useful element. GEIPAN classified the case as A: observation of the Patrouille de France in a night flight.