Was that really a missile?

On Monday November 8, 2010 the KCBS news helicopter captured some spectacular footage of what they thought was a missile launch. This story quickly went viral.





It really appears to be something spectacular when you look closely at the footage. The apparent vertical launch profile of the missile, the plume of smoke, and the light flashing from the solid fuel rockets as some people claim.

The Pentagon and NORAD denied any knowledge of a missile. That simply added more fuel to the fire and gave license to the conspiracy theorists. The story went viral. There were many of us who accepted the official story that it was probably an airplane contrail, and knew that all we needed was the exact location of the helicopter taking the footage, direction the camera was facing, and time it was shot. Thanks to the work of blog writer Liem Bahneman we now have a very credible explanation. There are two possible commercial flights that were in the area at the approximate right time, they are US Air flight 808. and UPS flight 902. The most likely candidate is the US Air flight, as shown in the map below.

A more detailed map shows the coastline of California, and where it passes over Santa Catalina Island.

I extracted the flight details for both of these and put them into Google Maps. The airplane icons represent US Air flight 808 which is the most likely candidate, and the smaller triangles are UPS flight 902. If you click on any icon you will get details about the time it was at that location and altitude, speed, heading, and if it was in level flight, climbing or descending and at what rate.


View US Air Flight 808 in a larger map


It's up to you to believe in secret missile testing, or show of strength from North Korea or whatever theory grabs your fancy. I believe there is sufficient evidence to explain this is simply a contrail from US Air flight 808. I have provide all the links to the details you need. The rest is up to you.