BASTIA (20) 05.08.2013

Around 23:50 on 5 August 2013, several witnesses in Bastia saw 5 lights moving silently north to south on the horizon above the sea. Following enquiries with civil aviation, GEIPAN considered a single explanation: Air Corsica's Paris–Bastia flight 514 AT, also written AT514 in the source. The aircraft, described there as a long-haul airliner and identified as an Airbus A320, was substantially delayed. Scheduled to land at 23:00, it actually landed at 00:02 at Bastia-Poretta airport south of Bastia, placing its offshore passage between 23:40 and 23:55. The 5 white lights could have been navigation and wing lights, changing their apparent arrangement as the aircraft turned and descended to line up with the runway. Switching on landing lights during approach could also have changed the perceived geometry. GEIPAN reasoned that a different phenomenon would have attracted the attention of airport air traffic control, which was particularly alert with AT514 being the final approaching flight. The air transport gendarmerie noticed and reported nothing unusual. No local press article appeared in the following days, and GEIPAN could find no additional witnesses. GEIPAN classified the case A: observation of flight AT514 on approach to landing. It attributed the witness's surprise to the unusual vantage point on a building's roof, a few kilometres from the approaching aircraft's path.