So, a news story lingers of rocket launch off the coast of California for 24 hours and they think this is a good thing? When all they would have to do is an hour investigation and say, “The helicopter caught footage of flight ??? on route to HI.” Or whatever the case may be... They sure don’t have to explain every contrail, but they sure as hell should explain the ones that go national and are on every news channel, national blog in the world. Jeez, that can not be that stupid, can they???
It was a local story until CBS picked it up so perhaps now they'll assign someone to identify the flight. Maybe they have higher priorities or don't want to set a precedent. Maybe they're waiting for the First Lady to call and ask them to investigate it. :)
Essentially the same story lingered in OC last year with the same speculation and results.
I tend to agree with Pike: send out a major to belabor the obvious and get it over with. When some news media does it again - and they will - rinse and repeat.
They really are common and take all kinds of interesting shapes and forms. I've photographed quite a few myself.