Sighting in Favalello, March 3, 1980

On the evening of 3 March 1980, from 8:45 pm, witnesses travelling by car noticed a plate-shaped luminous phenomenon above the ridges. They estimated it was between 100 and 200 metres from the vehicle. When they stopped the car, they heard no noise and noticed no particular smell.

Over roughly 12 kilometres, they felt the object was following them, as it seemed to stop and set off again at the same moments as their car. It then vanished abruptly, and another luminous phenomenon, red and cone-shaped this time, appeared. As soon as they got home, the witnesses went to the gendarmerie to make a statement.

The investigation found no other witnesses and no trace of the phenomenon. Taking into account the direction of the route between Favalello and Corte and the very winding road, GEIPAN considered it probable that the witnesses had observed Venus. The planet was particularly visible at that time of year (magnitude -4.10) and very low on the horizon, so it would have appeared and disappeared along the line of the ridges. The case was classified B, probably identified.