Sighting in Fouchy, November 19, 2017

At 8:35 pm, two people were driving along departmental road 39, one at the wheel and the other in the front passenger seat. Through the windscreen they noticed colored luminous shapes that intrigued them. The two witnesses described the phenomenon differently, but agreed on two points: it was silent and it stayed motionless in the sky. Each of them took photos with their own smartphone.

The passenger described four points of light arranged in a cross, with the one in the middle blinking. They compared it to a drone fitted with white LEDs at its extremities. In their photos the object is sharp, whereas in the driver's photos it is blurred. The investigators therefore considered that two separate phenomena might have been seen, and two case files were opened.

For the passenger's observation, the GEIPAN concluded it was an airliner. From a distance and through car windows, the colors of navigation lights may be indistinguishable. The photo shows the twin headlights of a Boeing 717 on approach to land at Strasbourg. Its path converging toward the witnesses could give an impression of stillness or very slow movement. The testimony is consistent with this observation, the photos are fully usable, and the aircraft's track was found. The case is classified A. What the driver saw is covered in a separate file.