Mysterious missile launch most likely US Air flight 808

Island Turtle ^ | November 11, 2010 | Corky Boyd

[Corky Boyd]

Network news and the internet were abuzz with the report and video by Los Angeles CBS affiliate KCBS of a reported missile launch late Monday afternoon -- around 5 PM. Both the Air Force and the Navy denied they had any missiles launches at the time. According to CBS News the Defense Department remains baffled.

"Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from," Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan said. "So far, we've come up empty with any explanation."

And they go on:

"The FAA told CBS News that they ran radar replays of a large area west of Los Angeles based on media reports of the location of a possible missile launch, but they did not reveal any fast moving unidentified targets in that area. The FAA also did not receive any reports of any unusual sightings from pilots in the area."

"The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, issued a statement jointly with the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, saying that the contrail was not the result of a foreign military launching a missile. It provided no further details."

A search for flights that could have left a contrail led me to US Air’s flight 808 from Honolulu to Phoenix. The flight took off from Honolulu at 10:06 AM HST, passed over Catalina Island at 5:03 PM PST....

[CharlesWayneCT]

If this was a “missle launch”, it isn’t from a hand-held surface-to-air missle, or even a small RPG-type missle; it’s a full-blown ICBM.

Not really what you would use to shoot down an airplaine.

[CharlesWayneCT]

where every cloud has a silver ICBM.

[r9etb]

it’s a full-blown ICBM. Not really what you would use to shoot down an airplaine.

Oh, I dunno.... it would certainly get the job done.

[McGruff]

If this was a “missle launch”, it isn’t from a hand-held surface-to-air missle, or even a small RPG-type missle; it’s a full-blown ICBM. Not really what you would use to shoot down an airplaine.

How about a mothership?

[Rightly Biased]

Well there you have it... but Lorrie Liable will be taken in to dark room in the near future to have that memory erased.

[SeeSac]

Here is a photo of another missile launch from the SAME place!

[SeeSac]

And another one! Whoever is launching these missiles is sure getting away with it big time!

[aruanan]

You're assuming way too much.

Here's how it works. I see an image that is like what I have seen in person a number of times and I make the conclusion that this is another instance of what I've seen repeatedly. You say that it's not that. I'm making a conclusion on the basis of similarities between different experiences. You would simply be denying that. So unless you knew for a fact that this recorded event was other than what it appeared to be and, therefore, not another instance of what I've seen repeatedly, my interpretation is more like to be the correct one.

[SeeSac]

I expect that in the next day or two, some enterprising person will figure out where the video was shot from, and overlay the actual flight data from 808 and show how the contrail follows the path that plane took as seen from that location.

Already happened. If fact, they have a photo of the same flight on 11/09.

[Wissa]

So unless you knew for a fact that this recorded event was other than what it appeared to be and, therefore, not another instance of what I've seen repeatedly, my interpretation is more like to be the correct one.

But the complete absence of pilots reporting a missile sighting and the report that the replay of the radar data shows no unidentified objects then puts you in a position of having to fabricate a massive coverup.

Why is that so much easier than considering the possibility that the video is simply an interesting optical illusion?

[B212]

“It’s important to remember that water vapor is invisible, and that when the ice crystals form at high altitudes it is a sublimation process. That is, the water vapor sublimes directly to ice and then directly back to water vapor. It never goes through the intermediate liquid water stage.....”

Well, whatever, condensed water becomes visible, only when the temperature, and relative humidity are appropriate, and these conditions are found in the hi-Arctic on a winter's day, and above 20000 feet, where the temperature is below freezing...generally the freezing level, depends on the temperature lapse rate, which for a standard day is -2 degrees centigrade per 1000 ft, hence, if the ground temperature was 20 C, then at 20000 ft, it would be -20C (-2 x 20000/1000)+20 = -20C

[Kid Shelleen]

>>> Hu will give him a knowing look as he explains the importance of not devaluing the dollar <<<

I think you broke the code. The currency war is escalating.

[Mr. Quarterpanel]

Where are all of the airline pilot’s comments and photos of this big old rocket that took off well within their view?

I dunno about the pilot comments, but as far as pictures go, the only video apparently is the traffic chopper. This in an area where there was a clear view from hundreds of thousands and possibly a million or more. I think that more witnesses will come forward with stills and video soon.

All I know is that the smoke trail of an SRB isn't even close to a contrail. What that video shows is an SRB smoke trail. I have seen lots of them.

[Atlas Sneezed]

How many other planes in LA that hour had contrails that started at ground level?

[SeeSac]

How many other planes in LA that hour had contrails that started at ground level?

Not that day, but close.

[SeeSac]

Read this and look at the photos. It includes a photo of the jet contrail taken from a different angle.

http://uncinus.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/4/

[ltc8k6]

Thanks, but I don’t need any more info on contrails, I know all there is to know about them from years of research while combatting the Insane Cloud Posse of chemtrailers.

There’s nothing in the video for me that distinguishes the trail from an airliner’s contrail.

There have been numerous examples of similar contrails posted, including several that also appear to begin at ground level but actually don’t.

The spiralling is common with airliner contrails, so that is not definitive.

The reflecting sun off a contrail can appear as flames, as we’ve seen before when people filmed or photographed high altitude contrails and reported them as fireballs or meteors or flaming UFOs.

The camera angle is deceptive, so the apparent angle of the contrail is also not definitive.

There were many airline pilots in the area who should have been surprised to see such a launch nearby, yet we have no radio reports, no photos, no videos, and no complaints. Yet.

With no evidence of a rocket launch whatsoever, the objective position has to be with the most likely answer, which is “airliner contrail”, until new evidence is presented, of course.

[CharlesWayneCT]

If the flight is from honolulu, the contrail isn’t at ground level, it is simply being seen over the horizon.

You might as well ask how many nights the moon actually rises out of the ocean.

[Atlas Sneezed]

How many flight went through that same area and time that day?

[CharlesWayneCT]

But the point is, when you watch a launch, you actually see the launch, and you see the smoke trail being created.

In this case, you are seeing something that might not even be moving (if you watch the “moving” part of the video, and focus on the contrail, you will see that the contrail features are not moving away from the object, so it appears that the “motion” we think we are seeing is largely the camera itself bouncing around and moving in the helicopter).

You are seeing an end result, and relating it to what you have watched before. Which is fine, but now you think you see the rocket flying up and creating a smoke trail, because your brain is remembering times when you DID see such a thing.

That’s what I was talking about, not your belief (which I think is wrong) that it was a missle, but your description of what you see.