Replies

I have sat on the beach and watched commercial airliners turn into what appear to be missile launches several times.

And what ultimately proved to you that they weren't? How long did it take you to observe them before being able to determine for certain that they were planes instead of missiles?

No normally sighted congizant human being is going to be fooled into thinking a horizontal airline contrail is a vertical missile plume for long.

That cameraman sure must have been awful stupid. Not remotely as smart as you, TomTom.

*rolls eyes*

I've seen the optical illusion as described. To the average public it will look like a missile trail, but it is not. No way.

I've shot missiles and flown fighters for a career and this was clearly a jet contrail.

The helicopter pilot is just that, a helicopter pilot. Just because he flies helos doesn't make him an expert. He is not an expert witness when it comes to jets, contrails, jet engine exhaust condensation, high-performance flight at high altitude, judging speed, missiles, missile propulsion, etc.

The speed of the object was a great give away: if traveling at moderate speed (i.e., low Mach for a missile), there is no way it would have remained in view as long as it did. Further, missiles/rocket motors have a short burn time and never burn for “8 minutes” (that was observed), and that includes ICBMs as they have a boost phase that takes them vertical into a ballistic flight profile, peaking around 700 miles or higher. . .that is why they are “ballistic” missiles. Cruise missile do not fly a ballistic profile and they do not fly very high, as it is tactically unsound for a sub-sonic missile to do so. They also do not leave a smoke trail as they use an air-breathing motor. Besides, a smoke trail makes interception by a fighter soooo darned easy.

But hey, don't let the facts get in the way of a super-secret, double-inverted, triple-threat conspiracy theory.

“No normally sighted congizant human being is going to be fooled into thinking a horizontal airline contrail is a vertical missile plume for long." .

Notwithstanding how gullible the public actually are (election of Obama, anyone?).

"No normally sighted congizant human being is going to be fooled into thinking a horizontal airline contrail is a vertical missile plume for long."

Really? That is precisely what has been going on for exactly a full month today.

Of course, there are serious questions about the "normally cognizant" part...