Sighting in Bordeaux, April 14, 2010

At 10:44 p.m., the crews of five commercial flights noticed a point of light that kept changing color in the sky toward the west-northwest. The accounts collected were very brief.

The investigation split the aircraft into two groups. Two flights were farther north, roughly between La Rochelle and Limoges. For them, the sighting fits very well with a mistaken identification of Venus, which was clearly visible off to their side. The other three flights were east of Bordeaux, and for them it is unclear whether Venus could have been seen, since the aircraft's nose may have blocked it. A short radar track, difficult to interpret, could have pointed to an unknown object, but the lack of detailed crew accounts leaves that lead too weak.

The twinkling in several colors is explained by the dispersion of Venus's light as it passes through the different layers of the atmosphere. This effect varies with the fluctuations of those layers, with the fast movement of aircraft at cruising altitude, and with the Earth's rotation. The case's strangeness, first rated high, turned out to be moderate, while its consistency is very good thanks to the number of witnesses. GEIPAN classified it as B: very probably sightings of the planet Venus on the horizon.