Sighting in Vicq-sur-Gartempe, August 13, 2021

Shortly after midnight, a couple out for a walk on a path noticed a luminous phenomenon in the sky. Two white lights, clearly separate and well defined, moved at low altitude from right to left along a straight, perfectly horizontal path. Their speed was steady and fairly high. A first clump of trees hid them at times, after which they reappeared on the same track, before finally vanishing behind a denser wooded area on the left.

GEIPAN rated the case as having low strangeness and good consistency. Because the lights were low in the sky, three sources were first considered: a land vehicle, a ship or an aircraft. The topography of the site ruled out the first two. A reconstruction based on ADS-B Exchange data showed that a French army A400M had flown at low altitude along the line of sight, at the time given by the witnesses. The distance between the aircraft and the witnesses explains why they heard no sound. The case is classified A: the witnesses saw an A400M aircraft.