That works if you assume the contrail you are looking at doesn’t originate hundreds of miles west where the sun is still above the horizon. The contrail nearest the viewer is fully lit, reflecting from the underside, but as you progress farther west the phenomena I describe is in full evidence. The earth is round, you realize?
As much as you want to believe it, it wasn’t a missile.
I LIVE here, pal. It's MY ass that stands to get blown to smithereens, MY FAMILY'S ASSES that stand to get blown to kingdom-come. Pretty much all of my immediate and extended family for now seven generations (counting the two generations after me) lives on the southern part of the CA coast within range of where such a missile would hit. So you can take your "you want to believe it" sh*t and shove it up your butt. You're the one so desperately wanting to beleive that a missile was UPS plane that you will ignore the physical reality of lighting.
As Gargantua said, echoing pretty much word-for-word a world-class professional expert on aviation lighting and perspective who has forgotten more about the perspective and lighting of things that "originate hundreds of miles west" on an ocean horizon, etc. etc. that you have ever learned, and with whom I have personally discussed this and who has looked at the photos and rolled his eyes at the likes of you, ex98C:
... No "jet contrail" would have that much mass at its furthest-away point (close to 400 miles from this perspective if it were from a jet at 30,000+ feet). Plus the base is way in the foreground compared to what this photo shows as the "horizon." Also, you can see even more clearly that the trail is backlit, as would be a launch efflux rising vertically, and not underlit as would be a jet contrail stretched horizontally at 30,000+ feet at this time of day.
As much as you want to believe it, it wasn't an airplane.
So, how much of your living is derived from understanding and communicating the dynamics of lighting and perspective with regard to the shifting horizon of sun-lit aerial phenomenon on the globe?
What's that? Not one red cent?
You'll excuse me if I give more credence to a person who earns his living understanding such things and whose services are used by people who also understand such things.
You want so badly to believe it was an airplane. You, living in Arizona, can afford such a fantasy.