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I was playing with that Bob Hope Airport monitor. That's a pretty fun toy. At any rate, I found it interesting that right about 5:00 pm on the 8th, all the air traffic cleared between Catalina and the Channel Islands. Could just be a coincedence, but still interesting. That area stayed clear for almost 15 minutes except for one flight, American Airline 161, which cut right across that area heading southwest at approx 5:05 pm.

Then I watched the video again from this source:
http://www.ktar.com/?nid=6&sid=1353284

Look what appears on the right side of the screen at the 1:35 mark. Flt 161? Who knows. It's hard to make any educated guesses without knowing the exact time the missile was launched. I've read anywhere between 4:45 and 5:15.

I still don't see how anyone can believe it was a plane if the reported position of the photographer is correct. If the helicopter was flying around the Santa Monica/Palisades area, Flt 808 may have been heading straight towards them prior to 5:00 pm, but once it reached Catalina, it turned and headed straight east. At that point, the helicopter would have been almost due north of the plane and the film should have shown the plane's contrail(s) moving in a horizontal line from right to left. That did not happen. Instead the contrail curved right and went out to sea to the northwest just as the photographer reported. I know, I'm preaching to the choir.

Look what appears on the right side of the screen at the 1:35 mark. Flt 161? Who knows.

You can also see that same shot about ten seconds into that news report. It has been speculated that it was a fighter jet or a large helicopter. The first time I saw it it looked like a huey military chopper to me.

The striking thing to me about that frame is that the fighter/chopper is traveling at a right angle to the contrail and the vehicle making it. That is what gives one a good sense of the speed of the mystery vehicle. If it were an airplane at 37,000 ft., as flight 808 is supposed to fly at, the contrail could not possibley grow at that rate. That is the one frame of reference in the video.

If it were the UPS flight it should have been descending and far too low to appear that far above the fighter/chopper.