Corse, France · 2013-08-05 · from the GEIPAN archive
On August 5, 2013, around 11:50 PM, several witnesses were intrigued by the north-south, silent movements of five bright points on the horizon above the sea. Following the investigation by civil aviation, only one hypothesis was considered: the passage of a long-haul airliner, the PARIS-BASTIA flight of AIR CORSICA, flight 514 AT. This plane was very late, as it was supposed to land at 11:00 PM, but it landed at exactly 12:02 AM at the BASTIA-PORETTA airport, located south of BASTIA (therefore passing offshore of BASTIA between 11:40 PM and 11:55 PM). The 5 white lights seen by the witnesses could be the position lights and wing lights of this Airbus A320, which lights changed position when the plane turned and began its descent to align with the runway. It is possible that the landing lights were switched on during approach to the airport, which could have altered the witnesses' view of the "geometry" of the lights. If the observed phenomenon had not been flight AT 514, it would have drawn the attention of the airport's air traffic control, which was on alert, since flight AT 514 was the last one approaching Bastia-Poretta airport. The air transport gendarmerie noticed nothing abnormal and reported nothing. No article appeared in the local press in the following days. We could not find any other witness to this phenomenon. In conclusion, GEIPAN classifies this case as "A": observation of flight AT514 in the landing phase. The witness would have been surprised due to the very particular observation conditions, on the roof of a building, a few kilometers from the path of the plane preparing to land.
What stood out: pilot witness
On February 7, 2013 at around 9:45 PM, a witness and his wife observe the slow movement of an object that intrigues them. The description given by the witness has all the characteristics of …
both described pilot witness · in the same place
After an underwater dive at 10 a.m. on August 20, 2011, at the "Punta d'Arco" site in the Bastia region, witnesses are surprised to observe for five minutes in the sky a stationary luminous …
both described pilot witness · 34 km away
On October 26, 2014, the pilot of a business aircraft (Cessna), 3 minutes after taking off from Nice airport at 15:21 UTC, reports having very quickly crossed paths with a dark, rectangular …
both described pilot witness · 244 km away
On Sunday, January 24, 2016 at around 12:45, a witness is intrigued by the west-to-east passage of a luminous flying craft of ovoid shape. The unidentified aerial phenomenon disappears as a …
both described pilot witness · 244 km away
On July 20, 2015, two people at their home are intrigued by the slow movement in the sky of an object with several lights of different colors. A motor hum is heard. The UAP moves in a straig…
both described pilot witness · 244 km away
On August 25, 2017 at 2:15 a.m. (time confirmed by T2), two witnesses observe in the night sky the presence of colored lights (one red and one green) that intrigue them. First perceived as s…
both described pilot witness · 277 km away
On May 7, 2015 at around 9:45 PM, two people are intrigued by a luminous phenomenon in the sky. Powerful lights (white, red, and orange) seem to turn around a craft. No noise is heard during…
the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
Thanks to new technical means (software) and the investigation experience acquired over all these recent years, this re-examination sometimes leads to new remarks or even a change of classif…
the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
On November 5, 2012 at around 7:30 p.m., two witnesses observe for 1 minute in the sky, a red luminous object with two blinking white lights of hexagonal shape. Given the objective elements …
the accounts read alike, found by meaning rather than by shared details
There are thousands more like this in the record. Open one at random, or read the ones the most people recognise.
Read anotherMost recognisedOr if something like this happened to you, write it down and we will look for the others who saw it too.
If this reminds you of something a friend or a relative told you once and never mentioned again, send them this page. Reading that a stranger described the same thing is usually the part that helps.
Nothing is tracked back to you and nothing is sent on your behalf. The link is just the page you are reading.
This is an official case file of GEIPAN, the French space agency's unidentified aerospace phenomena office, machine translated from French. The original text and the full investigation file are at geipan.fr. We reproduce it with thanks and remove anything on request.
Anomaly