PARIS (75) 09.01.2014

On 9 January 2014 at 09:35, a driver in Paris glimpsed a dazzling white object between clouds for a duration written as “3/4 second” in the French source. On the A6 heading towards Paris, the witness was looking due north. Casperflights records show flight AF620 JL, an Airbus A321, in that direction at 09:37, climbing through 2,500–3,000 m after taking off from Roissy. GEIPAN explains that the aircraft’s orientation was ideal for its fuselage to reflect the rising Sun towards the witness. The horizontally positioned wings did not reflect the Sun towards the observer and were therefore barely visible. The case is classified A: sunlight reflected from an aircraft.