[Yardstick]

An airline contrail would have been above the sun, and the sun would have lit the underside of the contrail.

You guys make such basic mistakes.

In this case you're forgetting that the Earth is round and that the Sun is very far away.

BTW, here is the pic that by itself shoots down the missile theory:

It was taken by a webcam several miles north of where the video was shot. It clearly shows the contrail heading inland from the west. In the video the plane appears to be traveling upward, but that's because its ground track is pointed almost directly towards the viewer. In this pic we get to see the flight in semi profile, which makes the true direction obvious.

[Finny]

People (not you, yardtick, you're a joker), look at that ridiculous drawing with the stick figure, the sun and the arrows, and the contrail. Then look at the photo below -- think about it, visualize in three dimensions. The photo FLAT OUT CONTRADICTS the drawing, for crying out loud!!! THINK ABOUT IT. COMPUTE. That which is brightly lit is facing the sun.

In this material world, that which is in shade is either facing away from the source of light, or has something between it and the source of light. You know this to be true yourself if you are a normally-sighted, normally cognizant human being.

Yardstick's kindergarten attempt at bullsh*tting an optical illusion has just "proven" that an underlit contrail would appear to us as if it was lit from the top, not from below, and that the side facing us would be in shade ... Right? LOOK AT THE DRAWING. The sun hits the TOP of the contrail; the bottom, the only part we can see, must then be in shade. The thing isn't opaque and glowing all 'round like a fluourescent tube -- or shall we expect another few hundred photo "proofs" from Yardstick and others married to the "airplane" fantasy that indeed, it is illuminated very much like a flourescent tube, thank you very much, because .. .I know!! I got it! I got it! It's water vapor, that's it!!! Yeah, that's the ticket! That's why it (though not regular clouds) look as if it's bottom was lit when the sun was hitting it's top!

THEN he shows a photo of a contrail that is bottomlit, and appears the opposite of what his ridiculous drawing indicates. LOOK AT IT AND THINK!!! It's just absurd, and it's why most of the time I ignore all of these ridiculous "proofs." They are hamster wheels -- going no place. I take one look and again am aghast at how blatantly absurd the "proofs" are, and I am sad that so many people shrug and figure the "science" looks impressive and I don't want to be considered a paranoid kook ... so, I'll go with "airplane" for $500, Alex.

Folks reading Yardtick and the rest of these contrail "provers" posts need to stand up to "we are men of science!" intimidation with brain-draining, energy-sapping crap pretend "proofs." YOU have all the expert you need IN YOUR BRAIN. Look at the video, think in 3-D. The audacity of Yardstick with that lame-brained illustration is absolutely breathtaking. Just stunning.

Good GRIEF!!!!!!!!!

[justa-hairyape]

Contrails being lit on their tops by a setting sun are immaterial. A viewer near sea level would not see them, since they would have to be at horizon. We are talking about contrails that extend far above horizon. Up to about 45 % above horizon. Viewer at sea level could only see their bottoms or nothing at all.

That contrail image is not the contrail in the video. The contrail in the video angled to the right. Your contrail image angles to the left just as flight UPS902 or AWE808 would have to angle to fly over Fallbrook when viewed from the Long Beach area. And as someone else pointed out, note the uniform lighting of even that contrail.

Guess you plane people are just gonna have to live with the fact that you will not convince everyone. Got Physics ?

[CharlesWayneCT]

Stop it. Don’t confuse them with the facts.

Actually, I hold out some hope that your simple yet revealing picture might help back them off the ledge.

People are way too quick to believe what they think they are seeing in pictures and videos. It’s kind of scary.

[indcons]

Great photo

[EternalVigilance]

Your post #48 made me laugh out loud. Good job.

[EternalVigilance]

By the way, I just drove half way across the continent and saw multiple contrails that looked every bit as much the “missile launch” as the one in question here.

It’s amazing how many folks think they live in a two-dimensional, flat world.