Sighting in Villeurbanne, August 16, 2022

At about 7:30 pm, the witness was flying their own drone over the Rhône, in a park. About a hundred metres ahead, they noticed another flying object moving upriver. They immediately thought of another drone, since its size, speed and altitude were close to those of their own. It flew about twenty metres above the water at a steady speed of roughly 30 km/h, on a level path that followed the river. The two craft passed within about ten metres of each other.

The witness remained convinced they had seen a drone, but the object surprised them: it was perfectly spherical, a uniform dark grey or black, with a matte, metallic look, and about 15 cm across. It had no wings that could explain how it flew. The camera on the witness's drone was not pointing in the right direction, so no video of the object was made. Only one account was collected.

The investigation concluded that the witness did see a drone, and that its unusual shape created the impression of strangeness. It was very probably a spherical drone of the PITTA type. GEIPAN classified the case as A.