Sighting in Nîmes, October 14, 2015

At around 1:25 in the morning, a witness was woken by a deafening noise outside. From the bathroom window, they saw a white luminous sphere go by, tracing two wide circles while gradually moving away. No one else came forward as a witness.

GEIPAN asked military air traffic control to check what air traffic was in the area at that time. The radar track shows an aircraft flying in circles north of the city. According to the reply received, it was a military aircraft flying at flight level 105, about 3,000 m, which had to make this manoeuvre for operational reasons before continuing its flight.

Dazzled by the aircraft's floodlights, the witness saw only a luminous ball and could not make out the fuselage or the wings, which are generally dark on military aircraft. GEIPAN classified the case as A: a military aircraft, perfectly identified.