[Red Steel]

Whatever it is that's not the typical plane contrail.

A typical aircraft contrail.

What the critics haven't explained that we see a single plume and only one solid and large contrail from the source. Plane contrails dissipate faster. How many engines did UPS jet flight 902 have?

[Hot Tabasco]

A typical aircraft contrail.

And the lens magnification for your picture that allowed the full disclosure of that jet was what?

There was no such magnification of the contrail in question.......If there was then all questions would have been put to and end.

Thus my original question: Why were there no photos or sightings of this missle from observers located directly on the coastline who would have had first hand sighting of this missile being launched off shore?

[A.A. Cunningham]

Whatever it is that's not the typical plane contrail.

Maybe not to a neophyte.

How many engines did UPS jet flight 902 have?

Three

MD-11 contrail

MD-11 contrail

Special contrail photos

Plane contrails dissipate faster.

Not necessarily. Depends on atmospheric conditions, altitude, winds aloft, humidity, barometric pressure, time of day, engine type, etc.

[TXnMA]

"What the critics haven't explained that we see a single plume and only one solid and large contrail from the source."

MD-11. Three engines. Center engine "fills in" -- and forms a single contrail. Well documented. See

http://contrailscience.com/skitch/MD11-20101113-142055.jpg

Contrails that freeze into ice crystals persist until the ice sublimates. Many last for hours under the right conditions.

And, yes, we explained and illustrated this several times.

[aruanan]

How many engines did UPS jet flight 902 have?

The MD-11 has three engines. One on each wing and one on the tail.



A typical aircraft contrail.

An MD-11 contrail. You should look for more MD-11 contrails. Some of them, like the one at the following link, are unbelievably huge fat trails with spiraling or corkscrew effects.

[mvpel]

Three engines, grouped close together near the tail of the plane.

Here's a "missile launch" in North Carolina:

[aruanan]

Sorry, I put in the wrong address for the link. Here is an MD-11 with a giant contrail apparently coming in for a landing somewhere. And here is one of another couple of planes with massive contrails. I'm not posting the images because they're copyrighted.

[Ditto]

"How many engines did UPS jet flight 902 have?

It was an MD 11, a wide body jet with three engine. One on each wing and one in the tail.

Now as to your 'typical' contrail, I suggest you look a few minutes after the jet passed. In atmospheric conditions where contrails can linger for a long time, you will not longer see seperate contrails from each engine, but one large contrail as they tend to spread out and merge with each other.