Air France 3532 and the giant disc over Coulommiers
On 28 January 1994 the crew of Air France flight 3532, an A320 from Nice to London cruising at 39,000 ft over Coulommiers east of Paris, saw a huge dark red-brown disc that changed shape and then 'became transparent and disappeared'. They reported it live to air traffic control, which passed it to the French air defence centre. Its radar had recorded an unidentified track crossing the airliner's path at the same time, and the track vanished as the object did. The gendarmerie and the French space agency's UAP office investigated and left it unexplained.
Evidence, in date order (3)
- 28 Jan 1994CODA (French air defence operations centre)sensor datalogged the crew's live report and recorded an unidentified radar track crossing their path CODA chronology
- 29 Jun 1997Gendarmerie (PV 00351/97, Roissy)officialinvestigated in 1997, with a fax from Gen. Denis Letty; closed as unexplained PV 00351/97
- 10 Apr 2001CNES/SEPRA (2001)documentinvestigation report; a Météo-France note (2012) rules out the Trappes radiosonde SEPRA RE-1
How plausible · High
A named airline crew reported a huge disc live, military radar recorded a matching track that vanished at the same moment, and the gendarmerie and CNES investigated.
- ●●Access From the cockpit.
- ●●No gain sought A live report.
- ●●Character record Airline captain and crew.
- ●●Independent convergence Three crew and a radar track.
- ●●Checkable details check out CODA chronology; SEPRA report.
- ●●Physical traces or official reaction Military radar.
Plausibility weighs how well an account fits where secrecy hides the documents by design, so missing records never count against it. Strength measures what is documented. Assessed 2026-10-23.