Here's another striking photo of wingtip vortices.
Of COURSE it was a missile launch. Anyone who knows anything about these matters can see the consistent symmetric turns in the contrail that scream “spin stabilized missile.” A plane simply cannot make those.
Amazed that so few can see/understand this...
I think that’s part of the problem. Not many people do know a lot about these matters.
I have NO clue, meaning the whole episode makes no logical sense to me... I am no expert so I can add nothing to either claim of plane versus missile...
Two things strike me though as curious... why single out the Chinese as source of a missile launch, and why the plane proponents use the same rationale for claiming it was left by a plane because CBS won't release the whole footage...
The plane advocates also use the same rationale of protecting 'gravitas' because to do otherwise would make one a kook/conspiracy theorists of the same profile they consider the 'birthers'....
At this point I have far more questions than answers.
Thank you for saying this. The spiraling was the first thing I noticed
Here's another striking photo of wingtip vortices.
I agree - and share your frustration. When I kept seeing (over and over again) mindless reporters telling us it was an "aircraft contrail" I wanted to cry/scream.
Then, we have the "man on the street." Ever see Jay Leno's "Man on the Street" interviews?
Well, let's just say that IQ statistics are not theory.
OK. I have backed out of these threads but I have to correct this:
No large missile; SLBM, ICBM, IRBM, or other guided missile uses spin stabilization.
These are guided missiles that have Missile Guidance Computers (MGC) and Inertial Measurement Units (IMU) and use either multiple gimballed thrust chambers or another form of thrust vectoring to maneuver the missile. THEY DO NOT USE SPIN STABILIZATION.
At the beginning of a missile launch the missile is programmed to do a roll maneuver to align the target side of the missile body and to ensure the IMU is functioning properly and sending the signals to the MGC. Once this roll program is completed there is only one more roll unless required to keep target alignment and those roll inputs are extremely small as any large input would place huge forces on the missile body and break it up due to tumbling the gyros in the IMU.
The corkscrew patterns shown in many missile launches (just look at old footage of manned flights) is due to differing wind speeds at different altitudes and also wind shears.
Yes, I do know a lot about this subject as I spent much of my life involved in missile operations and launches and all the ancillary research into the subject.
Here is a video on Youtube of how a ICBM works (the first two minutes is crap, sorry):
Even though this is a ICBM it is much the same for a SLBM.
The only spin stabilization id the reentry vehicle after its' release when it becomes a ballistic object.
“Of COURSE it was a missile launch. Anyone who knows anything about these matters can see the consistent symmetric turns in the contrail that scream “spin stabilized missile.”
Uh, what about the singular several hundred foot long fiery flame shooting out of the end of the flying object? I traveled for years and have seen hundreds of commercial jets take off and never once saw anything like that.
Also, it's amazing that so many people can be shown a video taken at sunset, for crying out loud!!!! when the sun is at its lowest point on the western horizon ... and be convinced that they're seeing a high-altitude airplane headed east! I suggest they go outside at sunset and observe the lighting on the clouds AND on any contrails they may see in the air at the time. If they listen to their common sense, they will know beyond doubt: the SUN is telling the truth, and the SUN tells anyone who looks at that video that the object began from a vertical launch and is headed northwest. The lighting is coming from the lowest point in the west. It is illuminating that which is facing it, and leaving in shadow and darkness that which is facing away from it. Amazing, AMAZING, that so few can (or will allow themselves to) see/understand this, as well.
The lighting in the video is indisputable: it shows an object going northwest, and it shows a plume whose origins began in front of, not behind, a setting sun.
But of course, it's all part of the optical illusion, you see, that us dumb bunnies, like that idiot camerman and so-called "experts" in missiles, are too dunderheaded to catch. *rolls eyes*
The setting sun would light THE UNDERSIDE of a high-altitude airline "contrail" if it was a contrail. But the sun only lights the leading edge, the side facing the sun. CLEARLY, obviously, plain as the nose on one's face, the sun tells us that this was launched from the sea or one of the Channel Islands, and and that it was headed west northwest.
““spin stabilized missile.””
Which missile is that exactly? I think you are confusing bullets with missiles.
“Anyone who knows anything about these matters “
Which obviously isn’t you. I’ve never seen a missile hang out for 10 minutes before and I’ve launched far more missiles than you’ve had birthdays. In 10 minutes any sub launched missile is long gone and over the horizon, not hanging out for paparazzi.