Has anyone checked for a NOTAM covering the area at the time?
Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
71–80 of 88 posts
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
Actually, that happens all the time. There are many live fire ranges for planes, artillery, etc. scattered across the US. No reason the Navy wouldn't light a few off from a sub.
There isn't a reason that the military can't test weaponry, they just usually do it in quarantined areas or with notice to the public.
Haha - tell that to my uncle who got buzzed by an F16 in his Cessna outside the live fire zone ;-)
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#73The fact that the US military response was 'nope, wasn't us' instead of 'oh my fucking god can you believe somebody just fired a missile off the coast of LA!' pretty much tells me it was them.
Why would they admit their ignorance, rather than make discreet queries through private channels?
This is probably a contrail.
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#74The fact that the US military response was 'nope, wasn't us' instead of 'oh my fucking god can you believe somebody just fired a missile off the coast of LA!' pretty much tells me it was them.
If it is a missile, then clearly a group of people with a boat should go and recover whatever it is. Since the military denies that they own it, then it seems to be abandoned property. Surely someone would be interested in buying the remains of it for the technology. Since the military doesn't own it, then they can't really say anything about you selling/reverse engineering/posting online abandoned property that's pr…
> Since the military doesn't own it, then they can't really say anything about you selling/reverse engineering/posting online abandoned property that's probably sitting in international waters now can they?
This is so wrong. Look up "ITAR". If you're a US citizen, the State Department can have your ass. If you're not a US citizen, well then, the options could be grimmer.
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it is a missile, then clearly a group of people with a boat should go and recover whatever it is. Since the military denies that they own it, then it seems to be abandoned property. Surely someone would be interested in buying the remains of it for the technology. Since the military doesn't own it, then they can't really say anything about you selling/reverse engineering/posting online abandoned property that's pr…
> Surely someone would be interested in buying the remains of it for the technology. ...unless it, say, exploded. Personally, I wouldn't want to pick up an unexploded missile anyway; there'd be no way to know whether it didn't explode because it doesn't have a warhead, or just hasn't exploded yet.
This is why they usually fire the self-destruct ordnance on spent stages so it's not floating in the ocean. I imagine likewise for anything they want kept secret. Self-destruct or flight termination systems are required by the missile ranges.
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#76That's no missile, it's Tony Stark.
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#77The fact that the US military response was 'nope, wasn't us' instead of 'oh my fucking god can you believe somebody just fired a missile off the coast of LA!' pretty much tells me it was them.
If it is a missile, then clearly a group of people with a boat should go and recover whatever it is. Since the military denies that they own it, then it seems to be abandoned property. Surely someone would be interested in buying the remains of it for the technology. Since the military doesn't own it, then they can't really say anything about you selling/reverse engineering/posting online abandoned property that's pr…
"If it is a missile, then clearly a group of people with a boat should go and recover whatever it is."
How is anyone going to know where it went down?
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#78The fact that the US military response was 'nope, wasn't us' instead of 'oh my fucking god can you believe somebody just fired a missile off the coast of LA!' pretty much tells me it was them.
Possible alternative explanation: http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-los-angeles/missile-launc... Fits with your point about the DoD being all kinds of crazy if they suspected it was an actual event they had no hand in. As usual the low quality of video and unreliability of eye-witnesses are going to make this way more crazy than it needs to be, regardless of the actual eventual outcome. EDIT: A better explanation wi…
A contrail webpage with the "jet contrail looks like missile if you look at it from one angle" theory. http://uncinus.wordpress.com/2010/11/09/4/
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it is a missile, then clearly a group of people with a boat should go and recover whatever it is. Since the military denies that they own it, then it seems to be abandoned property. Surely someone would be interested in buying the remains of it for the technology. Since the military doesn't own it, then they can't really say anything about you selling/reverse engineering/posting online abandoned property that's pr…
"If it is a missile, then clearly a group of people with a boat should go and recover whatever it is." How is anyone going to know where it went down?
Science!
Re: Mystery Missile Launch Seen off California Coast
#80Has anyone checked for a NOTAM covering the area at the time?
I've heard from others who are researching the issue that there was no NOTAM. Also, people in the amateur rocketry community are being asked if this was one of theirs.
My guess: contrail + some people in the gov't bought the missile angle, but there was no missile. So now some officials are worried that someone launched a missile that they don't know about.