http://flightaware.com/live/flight/USA808/history/20101108/1955Z/PHNL/KPHXRight place, right time.
My 2c is it's just an aircraft with an unusually pronounced contrail. It's moving way too slow in my opinion to be a missile well into the boost phase. The wind shear of the "lower" part of the plume also reminds me of typical shear at altitude, not the twisting and breaking of the plume by varying winds low to the ground. It being taken near sunset would just tend to make it more noticeable and pronounced.
Still on the fence about this one...but there is a surface missile launch tonight it appears. From NAS Point Mugu NOTAM:NAVAIR SURFACE LAUNCH MISSILE TEST IN R-2519. AIRCRAFT, MEN ANDEQUIPMENT WILL BE REQUIRED TO REMAIN CLEAR OF AREAS SOUTH OF TAXIWAYA-2 SOMETIMES DURING THIS PERIOD. MISSION ESSENTIAL FLIGHT REQUIRINGTRANSITIONS THROUGH THE RESTRICTED AREA SHALL CONTACT POINT MUGURANGE CONTROL (805-989-8280 OR 306.6) FOR DECONFLICTION. 09 NOV 22:00 2010 UNTIL10 NOV 01:00 2010. CREATED: 09 NOV 15:17 2010Related?
Quote from: ugordan on 11/09/2010 07:06 pmMy 2c is it's just an aircraft with an unusually pronounced contrail. It's moving way too slow in my opinion to be a missile well into the boost phase. The wind shear of the "lower" part of the plume also reminds me of typical shear at altitude, not the twisting and breaking of the plume by varying winds low to the ground. It being taken near sunset would just tend to make it more noticeable and pronounced.I am convinced that this is the correct explanation, and after some research, I've convinced my news media clients. They will move the story shortly.Attaboy!
Good find, but it looks like it traveled a little south of the "origin" of this event. It crossed over the Southern end of Catalina Island, while this is being reported as being North of Catalina, but still South of SNI.
Quote from: csmjr91090 on 11/09/2010 08:03 pmGood find, but it looks like it traveled a little south of the "origin" of this event. It crossed over the Southern end of Catalina Island, while this is being reported as being North of Catalina, but still South of SNI. Well, key in this is ascertaining where the video was precisely shot from, and where the contrail of the jet would have intersected the horizon from that vantage point.The actual path of the aircraft wouldn't have to pass over the island at all, in theory...
Quote from: dninness on 11/09/2010 08:26 pmQuote from: csmjr91090 on 11/09/2010 08:03 pmGood find, but it looks like it traveled a little south of the "origin" of this event. It crossed over the Southern end of Catalina Island, while this is being reported as being North of Catalina, but still South of SNI. Well, key in this is ascertaining where the video was precisely shot from, and where the contrail of the jet would have intersected the horizon from that vantage point.The actual path of the aircraft wouldn't have to pass over the island at all, in theory....I also do wonder what a news chopper from San Diego was doing over LA?
Aircraft contrail? What's the flight number? What's the altitude? What's the course? Whats the airspeed? Does the meteorological data at the time of sighting match the characteristics of the contrail? Were other aircraft over the west coast producing dense looking contrails?--- CHAS
Aircraft contrail? What's the flight number? What's the altitude? What's the course? Whats the airspeed? Does the meteorological data at the time of sighting match the characteristics of the contrail? Were other aircraft over the west coast producing dense looking contrails?
Quote from: csmjr91090 on 11/09/2010 08:38 pmQuote from: dninness on 11/09/2010 08:26 pmQuote from: csmjr91090 on 11/09/2010 08:03 pmGood find, but it looks like it traveled a little south of the "origin" of this event. It crossed over the Southern end of Catalina Island, while this is being reported as being North of Catalina, but still South of SNI. Well, key in this is ascertaining where the video was precisely shot from, and where the contrail of the jet would have intersected the horizon from that vantage point.The actual path of the aircraft wouldn't have to pass over the island at all, in theory....I also do wonder what a news chopper from San Diego was doing over LA? The video was actually captured by Los Angeles Based TV news Crews (KCBS 2) during their news hours traffic reporting over Los Angeles. KCBS's sister station CBS 8 in San Diego (http://www.cbs8.com/) carried the news coverage that so many are referring to> From the CBS 8 news station : "A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught on video Monday evening by a KCBS news helicopter."
With only the news outlets as primary sources for the observation, it's hard to say what that was. This DailyTech article has a comment by an observer named "Divide Overflow" that sounds credible: http://www.dailytech.com/Mystery+Missile+Launch+Leaves+Californians+in+Shock/article20113.htmI'd like to see more statements by witnesses like him.
Aircraft are entirely made up of curved surfaces. You can get reflections from pretty much any angle.I'm sold on airplane, too.In addition to all the other reasons stated, the contrail simply looks to me more like an aircraft contrail (thickening at the edges due to vortices) than a rocket contrail.