[lbahneman]

Here's a snapshot from the video made available at this url, with geographic features highlighted:

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2010/11/09/exclusive-raw-video-mysterious-missile-launch-off-california-coast/

This is the only portion of the video that provides identifiable landmarks: the headland and the Long Beach cargo terminal. This puts the helicopter over land at some point in a line from Point Delfin, over the terminal approximately toward Buena Park. Based on the footage, can anyone dispute this? Look at a map. Nothing photoshopped or secret there:

That points the camera pointing at the plume/contrail out to sea at a heading of SW/WSW. This also puts the field of view slightly to the north of Catalina Island.

With that basic information in the video, aligning Delfin Point and terminal with Google Earth's photo overlay feature allowed me to find a location (along that virtual line) a point that approximates the magnification, tilt and altitude of the helicopter camera. The lights of the terminal area align pretty well with the terminal as laid out in google earth.

Again, there's some margin for error, especially with regards to the actual spot over which the helicopter was at that point in time (less or more magnification moves it closer or farther from the terminal).

For the sake of reproducibility, here are the settings used:

The final image also includes UPS902's track as supplied by FlightAware.com and the FAA.

[D-fendr]

Well done, Bahneman. Thanks for your work in searching for facts. TXnMA: Maybe post 1199 and the GEOS data, other research calculations, etc. could be re-posted on your separate thread :) for more objective discussion and further factual info. Missile theorists could post their data, trajectories, speed, etc. also.

[TigersEye]

The final image also includes UPS902's track as supplied by FlightAware.com and the FAA.

Why is the track of UPS902, as supplied by FlightAware.com, perpendicular to the path of the contrail?