[Ronald_Magnus]

Here’s a CBS news video of the event. At approx. the 2:50 mark, they interview cameraman Gil Leyvas. Leyvas said it appeared to come from over the horizon and “continued to grow”. The commentator on the video said of Leyvas: “To him, it looked like an incoming missile”. WHAT?? I thought you people said this thing was heading AWAY, northwest or even west. This guy was flying near LA so he is basically saying the object is flying EAST. Please explain. Also, the commentator said Leyvas “zoomed in and stayed on it for 10 MINUTES”. WTH? What self respecting missile takes 10 FREAKING MINUTES to traverse the sky? Please explain this also. Thanks.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7040407n&tag=related;photovideo

[aruanan]

What self respecting missile takes 10 FREAKING MINUTES to traverse the sky?

An ICBM takes 3-5 minutes to reach end of boost phase. A solid rocket booster ICBM even less. And a cruise missile isn't going straight up, except briefly when initially launched with rocket assist and only for about 1/300 the altitude this was at.

[Finny]

THE SUN tells you where it's headed, not me. Also, when the commentator says Leyvas stayed on it for 10 minutes -- stayed on what? Where's the full video? An experienced retired missile guy on FR has said that if it lasted for 10 minutes, clearly it wasn't a missile. Looking at the video, and looking at still shots of the lingering plume, my guess is that Leyvas filmed the missile and lingered on the plume after the missile disappeared.

As for looking like an incoming missile ... AGAIN, a simple 5-word answer to my post #803 would be instructive. Are you aware of how, viewed from Santa Monica, an object at high altitude going north-northwest from would look? It would look like it was going inland. LOOK AT A MAP, DEAR. See, I LIVE down here. I know this coast, I know what things look like from a variety of vantage points, from Huntington Beach to San Simeon.

How about you?

[muawiyah]

Good catch. Even the photographer said it was moving from West to East ~

[justa-hairyape]

What self respecting missile takes 10 FREAKING MINUTES to traverse the sky?

We do not know that it flew for 10 minutes, only that he remained on the event for 10 minutes. We are just assuming it flew for that whole 10 minutes. At any rate, a plane flying at 500-600 mph would traverse up to 50 miles in 5 minutes. That means it should have been over California mainland in 5 minutes from a position 35 miles SW of the coast, if it was headed dues east as UPS 902 was at that point. So your time argument is absolutely mute and is against it being a plane. A missile that was cued up to test a Plane Based Laser Interceptor Test, that had failed the last time we know they used it around here, might not use the fastest rocket in the quiver. And they certainly would not aim it toward the most populated land on the west coast.