An account in Calvados, France

On March 14, 2013 at 7:16 PM, a witness is intrigued by the sight of a yellow-orange luminous phenomenon in the sky and films it for a few seconds. Turning away for a moment, the phenomenon will have disappeared when the witness looks at the sky again. Photographic analysis of the photos and the video (viewed online on the Internet) leaves little doubt about the origin of the phenomenon. This observation is similar to one made by many witnesses in Martinique on February 15 (See observation case Sainte-Luce (972) 15.02.2013). Airplane contrails at sunset (or sunrise) are often orange, very bright because lit by the setting sun, and contrasted against the dim sky of twilight. Certain weather conditions produce spectacular contrails. The airplane comes from the NW horizon heading toward the witness, so the contrail is oriented toward the horizon and gives the impression of being vertical. The contrail is in fact parallel to the Earth, but seen from below, with a low angle of incidence it appears vertical. The object appears almost stationary since it is moving toward the witness, while being very far away (at least 30 km). Moreover, there is no fixed reference point in the sky to judge its movement precisely. When the airplane, which is moving toward the Southeast, enters the Earth's shadow, the contrail will no longer be illuminated, and will become less bright than the blue-white of the sky, and will therefore be invisible. The witness should be able to witness the same "show" from time to time, but it requires particular weather conditions: clear sky of course, but also particular humidity and temperature conditions at the airplane's altitude. It is noted that many airliners pass in this direction (London-Barcelona, London-Toulouse), precise identification of the airplane would be of little interest. This case is classified "A": observation of an airplane contrail lit by the setting sun.