Good catch. Even the photographer said it was moving from West to East ~
So an MSM second hand account about what somebody else said is good enough evidence for you. Well that explains a lot. And when the pilot actually said it looked like it was growing, what was it ? The plume ? Yes the plum/contrail was growing.
No, he didn't say that. It is very easy to confirm exactly what he said. Listen to the very short interview with him.
"...spinning and going in a westerly direction." He also says "...it continued up into the sky and finally disappeared." If it had been approaching him, especially for a landing in LA, it should have been easy to see as it got bigger and descended.