COURBEVOIE (92) 12.03.2015

On 12 March 2015 at 19:45, a witness in Courbevoie (92) saw 2 initially stationary lights. The first moved and disappeared behind buildings; the second soon followed exactly the same path. His viewing direction was 85° to the right of the Total tower at La Défense, giving a northwest bearing; see the map. Civil air-traffic records from Flightradar show flights AFR1159 and AF1281 descending toward Roissy in that line of sight at that exact time, then turning slightly north. The witness's video fully matches this explanation. GEIPAN notes that an approaching aircraft seen head-on can be visible beyond 20 km because of its landing lights, which overpower flashing lights and green/red navigation lights. Once the aircraft turns away from the observer, the relatively narrow landing-light beams are no longer visible. The source refers to the article “avion?” GEIPAN classifies the case A: aircraft descending on approach.