Sighting in Palaiseau, February 2, 2002

At around 7:40 p.m., a family traveling by car saw a luminous mass shaped like a saucer above a wooded estate. In the dark it looked grey, topped with a dome, with widely spaced white lights around its rim. It hung motionless above the trees, and the witnesses estimated its diameter at about fifteen meters. They heard no particular noise. When the car turned onto a different road, they lost sight of the object.

The case was originally classified D. A recent message from an internet user pointed out a water tower in the area that could have caused a misidentification, so the file was reopened and further inquiries were made. Based on where the witnesses were, a misidentification is probable, though not with a water tower: the likely source was the secondary radar of the Délégation Générale de l'Aviation Civile at Paris Sud Palaiseau, used for Orly airport. It stood in line with the direction of the sighting and matched the witnesses' descriptions. The case was reclassified as B.