Free Republic

Just spoke with old friend, very senior retired USN skipper. Says his contacts, many of whom were his "boys," are concerned with how stupid the MSM and Americans are and at how the Internet has fueled rampant ignorance. As I was calling him, he was calling me to call my military and IC friends to have a laugh and share some scotch to ease our aching heads.

When an impressive contrail was spotted off the California coast last week, it sparked widespread reports of a mystery missile launch in the area – a theory the Pentagon squashed after initial investigations. But, the odd contrail fooled more than the public and media, and was even seen from space. After watching footage of the Nov. 8 contrail, Patrick Minnis, a contrail expert in the Science Directorate at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., assumed it came from a missile, as many others did. He even said so in response to a phone call from a reporter.

A mysterious smoke plume that looked like a missile firing off the California coast on Monday may have been an aircraft and not a missile, U.S. military officials said.

My rant: "This is not an airplane, You can tell from the plume. In 40 years I never saw a jet fighter create that kind of plume" says the retired three star Lieutenant General Tom McInerney. And I agree with him. "I am absolutely certain that that is not an aircraft."

When KCBS aired the news helicopter footage of a mystery missile launch last Monday off the coast of southern California the ‘expert’ most quoted by the press, GlobalSecurities.org Director John Pike. It was Pike’s ‘optical illusion’ which got the most press. Another quote from Pike which got far less press, this statement from Pike during the 36 hour time period the DOD took to come up with the ‘most likely an aircraft’ explanation: Pike said he didn’t understand why the military had not recognized the contrail of an aircraft. “The Air Force must … understand how contrails are formed,” he...

Hannity was surprised to hear a famous ex Air Force General tell him “That Is A Missile, Shot From A Submarine!” I quote retired Air Force Lieutenant General Tom McInerney (ex commander of 11th Air Force in Alaska) “I spent 35 years flying fighters, and you can see the guidance system kick in, I have watched that film 10 times, I am absolutely certain that that is not an aircraft, but a sub launch ICBM missile!!!” See the video and judge his words for yourself. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LivRJOWrcpA&feature=player_embedded#! I will next post a clickable link.

The video below suggests the mystery missile launch was the USA showing Asia/China and Russia our ability to launch Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) from a submarine while OBAMBI is in Asia! Since when has there been ANY doubt we have the capability to do this? That the USA has submarine launch ability to hit China or to hit Russia! The first, a Pacific launch was 35 miles off Southern California and headed on a North-East - across America trajectory. The second, shortly after that, was a first ever Atlantic launch and reportedly went up above New York.

<p>The only question I have regarding the proclamation that the "LA Missile Launch" was actually US Air Flight 808 HNL to PHX is this...</p> <p>Where were all the other contrails at?</p> <p>NASA Satellite photos of contrails over SE USA...</p> <p>Over the Pacific Near Japan...</p> <p>Now... According to...</p>

The mystery of the missile over Southern California can easily be explained as only an optical illusion from a passenger plane contrail.

Perhaps no one had a better view of the alleged rocket than KCBS-TV Channel 2 cameraman Gil Leyvas. He was aboard the station's helicopter shooting footage of sunset over the ocean about 5 p.m. when he noticed a spiral-shaped vapor trail and zoomed in to get a better look. The on-board camera showed a plume twisting up from the horizon and narrowing as it climbed into the sky northwest of Santa Catalina Island, he said. "Whatever it was, it was spinning up into the sky kind of like a spiral," he said. "It was quite a sight to see. It...

Title of video is: Mysterious Missile Launches over Southern California Mystery Missile Launch "Lights Up the Sky" over LA: Watch the video and judge for yourself. Listen to the former Deputy Secretary of Defense, and former US Ambassador to NATO, Robert Ellsworth, and hear the laughing amazement in his voice as he tells the two reporters: "It is a big missile !!! Spectacular! Takes your breath away !!! Sub launched ICBM !!!" ... but what would he know?

A report posted today at a CNN website claims the "mystery missile launch" on Monday was actually a Chinese missile test. According to the report: China flexed its military muscle Monday evening in the skies west of Los Angeles when a Chinese Navy Jin class ballistic missile nuclear submarine, deployed secretly from its underground home base on the south coast of Hainan island, launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from international waters off the southern California coast. WMR’s intelligence sources in Asia, including Japan, say the belief by the military commands in Asia and the intelligence services is that the Chinese...

A blogger reckons he may have solved the mystery over the vapor trail spotted off the southern coast of California on Monday. On his blog "Time to Think," Liem Bahneman on Wednesday pinpointed America West Flight 808 as the likely cause -- backing up an explanation offered by a senior military official to Fox News Channel that the contrail caught on video by a news helicopter “was more likely caused by an airplane than anything else." Bahneman wonders if he is the first to call it: "I did a lot of extrapolation of what flights could be at the right...

(Newser) – Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lambasted Russia for backing out of a deal to sell Iran missiles today, accusing the country of “selling out” Iran to its enemies. “Some officials have been deceived by the Satan and thought that by illegally canceling an arms deal, they could harm Iran,” he told a rally today. And by “Satan” he probably meant the US, according to the Jerusalem Post. Russia had agreed to sell Iran its S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, but backed out of the deal because of new UN sanctions against Iran. But Ahmadinejad argued that they were still bound by the...

Pacific Ocean (CBS8)- A mysterious missile launch off the southern California coast was caught on video Monday evening by a KCBS news helicopter. The spectacular contrail could easily be seen up in Los Angeles, but who launched this missile and why, remain a mystery for now. The magnificent images were captured from the KCBS chopper around 5pm. The location of the missile was described as west of Los Angeles, north of Catalina Island, and approximately 35 miles out to sea. A Navy spokesperson tells News 8, this wasn't its missile. He said there was no Navy activity reported in that...

Spectacular shots of a missile contrail over the Pacific Ocean about 35 miles out to sea off of Los Angeles. Too big to be a Tomahawk. Could be a submarine launch of an ICBM. Watch the video. Our military is stating they have no idea who launched the missile, or why.

WASHINGTON -The Pentagon said Tuesday it did not know what created a vapor trail that crossed the skies off the Southern California coast and resembled a missile launch. Video posted on the CBS News website shows an object flying through the evening sky Monday that left a large contrail, or vapor trail. A news helicopter owned by KCBS, a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, shot the video. Pentagon officials were stumped by the event. "Nobody within the Department of Defense that we've reached out to has been able to explain what this contrail is, where it came from," Pentagon spokesman...

North Korea has developed a long-range submarine missile with a shooting range exceeding 2,500 km (1,554 miles). The missile is heavily-modified version of the old Soviet Union R-27 (named SS-N-6 by NATO) and can be placed on a submarine or other movable platform. The news comes days after an unknown missile was filmed flying from the sea off the coast of California. Military officials officially claim they do not know who fired the missile, but speculation based on recent events indicates that it may have been a show of strength from North Korea.

I wonder if I'm the first to call it, the reported unexplained missile launch off the coast of California, was US Airways 808. I did a lot of extrapolation of what flights could be at the right position (off the coast) at the right altitude (for contrail formation) and came down to two possibilities: UPS flight 902 (UPS902) or US Airways flight 808 (AWE808). As I was researching tonight (24 hours later), I realized that today's AWE808 current position (at around 4:50pm) was almost the same as it was the day of the incident. I quickly pulled up a Newport...

Are you seriously going to tell me that this is an airliner and not a missile???