Sighting in Montmerle-sur-Saône, May 13, 2011

At around 11:30 p.m., from the yard of their home, the witness noticed a very bright white point in the sky that caught their attention. The observation lasted less than three minutes. The point first seemed motionless for a few seconds, then moved towards the north-west while growing fainter, again over a few seconds. The witness heard no sound. No other account of the phenomenon reached the GEIPAN.

The investigation considered one possible cause: an aircraft heading towards the witness. It would have looked stationary, and its front lights, pointing at the witness, would have produced the maximum brightness. If the aircraft then changed course, the beam would have turned away, the light would have dimmed, and the point would have appeared to slide sideways until it vanished, as the aircraft's axis moved too far from the line between aircraft and witness. Because the phenomenon was not particularly strange, the GEIPAN did not try to identify which aircraft it might have been. The case therefore remained classed C, for insufficient information.