Pilot witness in Corse, France

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.