An account in Cantal, France

On August 17, 2012 at 11:35 PM, a person, while observing the sky with binoculars, sees a bright point moving in a zigzag pattern and blinking irregularly. The testimony was collected in November 2013. An astronomical check indicates two satellites that followed a nearby trajectory: Cosmos 2322 and 2360: but they are of low brightness. The blinking lights of course suggest an airplane, but the zigzag path seems inconsistent with that hypothesis. This area is frequently overflown by airliners on a North/South axis: the probability of having an airplane on this trajectory is very high. The zigzag path is of course surprising, but this illusion is not rare: for airplanes, if the anticollision lights are synchronized in opposition, the witness interprets the alternating illumination of two distant lights as a zigzag. Furthermore, the autokinetic illusion can add to this effect (see: The perception of the movement of a bright point in the sky). GEIPAN classifies this case "B": probable observation of an airplane, with a perceptual illusion (blinking lights and autokinesis).