[D80] de PORNIC (44) vers NANTES (44) 28.12.2014

On 28 December 2014 at 18:20, a car passenger traveling on the D80 from Pornic (44) toward Nantes (44) noticed 2 steady parallel lights in the sky. As they passed over the car, he looked through the panoramic roof and perceived a dark equilateral triangle pointing south. There was a light inside each corner and a dimmer one in the center. It followed a straight path. GEIPAN considers the description of 2 and then 3 low lights moving straight southward, together with mention of 2 flashing lights, suggestive of a low-flying aircraft arriving from the north, possibly Great Britain, and preparing to approach Nantes-Bouguenais from the south into the wind. The source refers to a Météociel northerly-wind record for Nantes. The triangular description initially appears inconsistent with an aircraft. GEIPAN explains that the witness mainly saw powerful landing lights and could not distinguish the fuselage because of their glare; it refers to the example photograph DSC_6916_avion.jpg. It attributes the enclosing triangle to a common perceptual contour or shape illusion. The long delay after the observation prevented access to flight information that could have identified the particular aircraft. GEIPAN classifies the case as B: probable observation of an aircraft preparing to land.