Sighting in Les Halles, August 22, 2014

At about 1:30 p.m., two witnesses noticed several bright white points moving across the sky, several kilometres away. The movements puzzled them. Only one witness account was collected by the GEIPAN, however.

According to the Météo-France map, the sky was partly cloudy and the wind was very light and unstable. In that area, southwest of Lyon, conditions at the time allowed contrails to form only between roughly 35,700 and 41,600 feet. Flightradar24 data show at least five aircraft in the area, all flying below those levels (one, for example, at 24,725 feet), so none of them left condensation trails.

The GEIPAN concluded that these airliners, numerous at high altitude and trailless, probably reflected the sun temporarily depending on their position. This play of reflections produced the dance of lights that surprised the witness. The case is classified A: reflections on airliners without contrails.