An account in Vendée, France

On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 5:45 PM, a motorist's attention was drawn by an intense white light in the sky in clear weather. The glow disappeared for 15 to 20 seconds, then reappeared more intense than the first time. The observation started again a little further along the route. Only one testimony was collected. This is most likely the reflection of the sun on airplanes. The witness himself puts forward this hypothesis but is surprised by the slight movement in the sky, while admitting that he finds it difficult to evaluate the displacement. He writes on this subject: "although they were motionless, but well with the distance... one perhaps perceives the movements poorly" and one can also add that the witness was driving. There is indeed a good geometric condition for a mirror effect of the sun on airplanes. That evening, there was a succession of airplanes flying in the same direction as the witness and with a heading facing the sun (~240°). In other words, the airplanes, the sun, and the witness were almost in the same plane, and since the sun was at the horizon, there could be a mirror effect of sun -> airplane -> witness created by the underside of the fuselage and even more so by the wings of the airplanes. The phenomenon is sensitive to geometry, whose evolution with the movement of the airplanes can explain its appearance and disappearance. It is probable that the 20-second interruption corresponded to the end of the phenomenon on one airplane and the appearance of the phenomenon on another airplane, so that the cumulative observation of several minutes probably did not exceed a duration of one minute, or even two, continuous on one (or several) same airplane. An airplane observed at the start at a 30° angle of incidence (witness data) descends to an elevation of 20° in one minute and 15° in 2 minutes. This angular evolution remains slight and may not have been noticed by the witness. The attached reconstruction allows finding the final phase of the observation with two airplanes, one of which was located further away and further south than the other, which corresponds well for the witness to a UAP lower and further to the left. Consequently, GEIPAN classifies the case as A: observation of airplanes.