An account in Gironde, France

On April 14, 2010 at 10:44 PM, a total of five commercial flight crews observed a point of light of variable color in the sky toward the west-northwest. The analysis conducted and the hypotheses proposed lead us to split the conclusion into two groups: - for flights RYR57ZB and RAM697, flying noticeably north of the other three (roughly between La Rochelle and Limoges), the observation seems very consistent with a misidentification due to Venus, widely visible on their side. - for flights RYR8CW, RYR7CT and EIN577, flying east of Bordeaux, the question of Venus's visibility arises given a possible obstruction by the aircraft's nose. The presence of a short radar track with a delicate interpretation could lead to a conclusion of an unknown object, but the consistency remains too weak in the absence of detailed testimony from the various crews. The flickering observed in several colors is due to the dispersion of Venus's light passing through the different layers of the atmosphere and varying according to their fluctuations and the rapid movement of the aircraft in cruise flight combined with the rotation of the Earth. This case has a degree of strangeness initially high, but which ultimately turns out to be average. Its consistency is very good, due to the multiplicity of testimonies, unfortunately very brief. GEIPAN classifies this case as B: very probable observations of the planet Venus on the horizon.