World Notes FRANCE

Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! Yes, it's definitely a plane, and it's the talk of Paris. Since midsummer, a phantom pilot has taken to the night sky at least three times, flouting aviation regulations by cruising several hundred feet above Notre Dame, the Place de la Concorde and other monuments. Police have been scanning the night skies with infrared binoculars to find "the Black Baron," as journalists have dubbed the aviator.

Last week a man claiming to be the Baron showed up on a late-night television talk show. Disguised by a mask, he admitted making three low- altitude flights above the city. Claiming that he is frustrated and bored by air-traffic regulations, the man pledged that he would buzz the city a final time in coming weeks. Within 24 hours, the daily Le Monde reported that police sources had identified a prime suspect: Albert Maltret, 52, who was arrested in 1986 for landing a single-engine plane on the Champs Elysees. "It's not me," Maltret told Le Monde. "They have no proof against me."