An account in Loiret, France

A witness reports an observation made on May 25, 2011 at 2:09 a.m.: through a window, the witness notes to the North the presence of a white light of strong intensity. The phenomenon follows a straight trajectory heading South before turning toward East-Southeast. The observation lasts five seconds before the light suddenly disappears. No noise was heard during the passage of the phenomenon. The favored hypothesis is the head-on observation of an aircraft coming from the North, and preparing to land at Orléans or Orly, with its landing light on. When the observer faces the aircraft, it appears as an almost stationary point (one does not see the blinking lights, because the forward spotlight blinds), whose distance cannot be estimated. These landing lights are visible at more than 10 km along their axis. If the aircraft changes its course, the luminous point moves laterally, changes in brightness, then seems to disappear because the observer is no longer in the axis of the spotlights. If the aircraft is not too far away, one can then see the blinking lights. The phenomenon should recur from time to time, when weather conditions are similar. The absence of noise is not surprising if one assumes that the distance estimate made by the witness is incorrect, an estimate impossible to make at night from a luminous point. This case is classified "B": probable observation of an aircraft.