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Did you see it by any chance? I wish I had. I'd also like to hear what the people on the news chopper are saying. I have to tell you my first thought was "missile launch". My second thought was "screw-up". I've not seen a good video of it.
As usual, the government says "Well, it was probably just a _____", with no (publicly visible) effort whatsoever to verify it, in spite of the fact that the exact identity, location, and flight pattern of everything in the air is scrutinously documented, and paid a great deal of attention to since 9/11.
Why don't they just lie, and make something up, and say "There was a jet bomber on a training mission at that place and time, but futher details are classified." At least, that would give the government a rare modicum of credibility. They apparently haven't learned that you can get more cred out of a lie than out of a cop-out.
As usual, the government says "Well, it was probably just a _____", with no (publicly visible) effort whatsoever to verify it, in spite of the fact that the exact identity, location, and flight pattern of everything in the air is scrutinously documented, and paid a great deal of attention to since 9/11.
There are a lot of flights out of LAX, Long Beach, Oxnard, John Wayne, Point Mugu, etc which could have produced that contrail. The ground tracking radars are tracking the aircraft, not the contrails. I don't think we have coordinates of the contrail though, someone may be able to provide an estimate from analyzing the video. The contrails can hang out for quite a long time.
I wouldn't be surprised if the FAA is analyzing this. They may be able to provide a candidate aircraft. "Based on the time the video was taken, the apparent position of the contrail, and known aircraft activity, we suspect it was flight XYZ 123..."
Or, they may not want to waste their time. As far as they're concerned, there are no anomalies, and they may press on with normal activities.
We have a winner. I've seen enough suborbital and orbital launches to tell that was no rocket. The plume is too persistent for it to be anywhere but in the stratosphere.
If it was a missile, there would be gaps in the plume from midlevel shear, even on a calm day. Furthermore, the relative velocity is too low. Even slow-moving manned rockets like the STS, Long March, or Soyez, are going MUCH faster after that long under power.
The only candidate missiles would be solid-propellant SLBMs or (if you're incredibly optimistic, some sort of liquid IRBM's, sub launched or otherwise) and both of those would be moving MUCH MUCH faster after a few minutes of boost.
Additionally, that's at least a 2-3 minute uninterrupted boost phase. Unless we're talking about a Saturn-V or other massive, slow, heavy-lift manned rocket, there's just no way.
Furthermore, there are several copycat videos on youtube claiming a second "missile" launch in nearly the same location at nearly the same time, 2 days later. The contrail does look similar, but it's clearly a commercial jet contrail. 2 days later would fit with a normal route schedule for a typical low-capacity trans-pacific airline route.
We have a winner. I've seen enough suborbital and orbital launches to tell that was no rocket. The plume is too persistent for it to be anywhere but in the stratosphere.
If it was a missile, there would be gaps in the plume from midlevel shear, even on a calm day. Furthermore, the relative velocity is too low. Even slow-moving manned rockets like the STS, Long March, or Soyez, are going MUCH faster after that long under power.
The only candidate missiles would be solid-propellant SLBMs or (if you're incredibly optimistic, some sort of liquid IRBM's, sub launched or otherwise) and both of those would be moving MUCH MUCH faster after a few minutes of boost.
Additionally, that's at least a 2-3 minute uninterrupted boost phase. Unless we're talking about a Saturn-V or other massive, slow, heavy-lift manned rocket, there's just no way.
Furthermore, there are several copycat videos on youtube claiming a second "missile" launch in nearly the same location at nearly the same time, 2 days later. The contrail does look similar, but it's clearly a commercial jet contrail. 2 days later would fit with a normal route schedule for a typical low-capacity trans-pacific airline route.
Clear verdict; it's a jet.
On top of that, other than amateur conspiracy theorists, I don't think I've read one legitimate counter argument from a reputable source. If something is truly debateable, there normally are heavyweights on both sides. There are no heavyweights claiming missile.
I remember a few years back, I planned a sunset picnic in SoCal to watch a Tarus launch out of Vandenburg. I wasn't expecting much, because that's a pretty small rocket, but, watching the hills to the north on that clear evening, sure enough; there it was, the plume glowing bright orange in the sun (even though we were in shadow). After a few seconds, the sustainer cut off and it disappeared, then the second stage started up and sprayed a "giant" conical rainbow plume across the sky. That was neat. The plume was pretty persistent, though the upper level winds blew it into strange glowing shapes after a few minutes.
Then the next day the headline "UFO OVER LA DISTURBS RESIDENTS" was in all the papers. Pretty funny. Real rockets are UFO's; aircraft are foreign missiles, what's next?
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