Sighting in Thorigné-d'Anjou, August 15, 2012

At around 10 p.m., a witness sitting on a terrace was looking at the stars when they noticed two coloured, flashing lights moving in an unusual way. A third light then appeared. The witness moved to another spot to get a better view and went through several known phenomena, but none seemed to fit. Two other family members confirmed the sighting; they thought it was either a helicopter or a satellite. No sound was heard during the fifteen minutes of the observation. The lights eventually left the witness's field of view. No other testimony was collected.

GEIPAN examined six hypotheses, two of which matched the physical and dynamic characteristics described very well. It classified the case as B: a probable helicopter or light aircraft flying VFR at night, heading toward Nantes airport, Ancenis airfield or the DAG base at Saint-Nazaire. The testimony was rated as medium in quality and consistency: three people were present, but only one completed the questionnaire, the other two having answered the gendarmes only very briefly, and there were no photographs. The observation was considered of low strangeness, since the phenomenon is easy to characterise, both in appearance and in behaviour.