PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
:laughing:
silver missile flew over my head yesterday..
- Thread starter TedTheLed
- Start date
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Two Words: Vandenberg
Launch Site?
Be sure to watch the videos on this site. Rockets-Oh Yeah!
From the South East? Hmmmm.. gotta be from China Lake, or Edwards, or even Groom lake/Nellis or possiblly a long range flight out of White Sands ??
Launch Site?
Be sure to watch the videos on this site. Rockets-Oh Yeah!
From the South East? Hmmmm.. gotta be from China Lake, or Edwards, or even Groom lake/Nellis or possiblly a long range flight out of White Sands ??
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BB
Flashlight Enthusiast
A ballistic missile is only going to have flame on the lift stage--there will be no flame or smoke on desent. Probably won't even see it coming in unless you happen to be looking right at it (and it will be going several times the speed of sound).
I guess you could have seen a surface or sub launched cruise missile--but from the pictures I have seen, the flame and smoke would only last 15 seconds or so +/-.
-Bill
I guess you could have seen a surface or sub launched cruise missile--but from the pictures I have seen, the flame and smoke would only last 15 seconds or so +/-.
-Bill
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'm up a hill on a piece of land that juts out into the ocean slightly at an angle to most of the CA coast, facing South, so "from the South East" is coming from out over the ocean. come to think of it, it was pretty much South..
I guess it is the most plausible explanation that it was a recently launched missile, perfectly possible I could have seen it during it's first 15 seconds of flight, launched from a jet or ship..it was going rather slowly at first..then I lost sight of it almost as soon as I focused the binos on it -- it may have picked up speed and zoomed out of sight in a few seconds..
if only there were some way to extrapolate the size based on the image I saw in the binocs ...
(hope the Men in Black don't pay me a visit tonight for a 'educational debriefing' tonight.. )
what I'm still wondering though is why such a bright metalic finish? I don't see that on other Tomahawk and cruise type missiles, do you?
I guess it is the most plausible explanation that it was a recently launched missile, perfectly possible I could have seen it during it's first 15 seconds of flight, launched from a jet or ship..it was going rather slowly at first..then I lost sight of it almost as soon as I focused the binos on it -- it may have picked up speed and zoomed out of sight in a few seconds..
if only there were some way to extrapolate the size based on the image I saw in the binocs ...
(hope the Men in Black don't pay me a visit tonight for a 'educational debriefing' tonight.. )
what I'm still wondering though is why such a bright metalic finish? I don't see that on other Tomahawk and cruise type missiles, do you?
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
Cornkid said:
nah..those are big, (about 3 or 4 F-15 jet lengths, which were escorting the two Auroras btw) black isosceles triangles..
and the last two were grounded at Edwards AFB in '96 or '97, after flying by here, too! (NOBODY admitted to seeing those either -- not even the motorcycling jet pilots that stop and eat at Neptunes Net down the road sometimes..they said they were probably a type of black triangular jet (I forgot the exact one, I could look it up..) but the Auroras had no fins like the jet they referred to...
gee hope i didn't lose credibility admitting to seeing the Auroras
KevinL
Flashlight Enthusiast
Did you see this?
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/24/missile.defense.ap/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/05/24/missile.defense.ap/index.html
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
Kev, it's possible.. unless they're kidding about the location of the shoot down..
what would the target be doing all the way over here? maybe it was the one that got away..?
could make sense though.
what would the target be doing all the way over here? maybe it was the one that got away..?
could make sense though.
Sigman
* The Arctic Moderator *
...so there I was out in the middle of a field with my newly built remote controlled model missile. It seemed to be responding well, until I dropped my controller and then it just took off!
Sooooo that's where it went?!
Sorry bout' that!
Sooooo that's where it went?!
Sorry bout' that! 
LowBat
Flashlight Enthusiast
Vandenberg is a possibility, but they are usually involved in high altitude tests. What you mentioned sounds more like an air-to-air or air-to-surface test that commonly goes on at Point Mugu. It is strange that it was in visual range of the coast. Like Vandenberg, things go wrong with tests and these things go off course from time to time. Fortunately they aren't carrying payloads.
Probably some kind of cruise missile or perhaps a drone UAV aircraft with some kind of solid rocket booster.
If it was any kind of ballistic missile, as others have said it would be going straight up, and when it came down, you'd have only seen it at night from it's re-entry heat.
Some, if not most, UAV's and cruise missiles, have very, very, skinny wings, and also have unconventional tail arrangments. (Think like the Preadator, it's got skinny glider wings for high-efficiency, and the tail is on the bottom not the top etc.)
If your eye/brain isn't seeing what it thinks it should, what your brain "interprets" can be way, way off.
It even could have been something as simple as a conventional aircraft or fighter where the wings were exactly parallel to your line of sight, so they did not protrude visibly from the fuselage. The tail? Maybe it was just the right shade of light blue or white to blend into the sky perfectly at that moment etc.
I see airliners all the time, especialy at dusk, where I know it's an airliner, but because of the sunlight, or the angle, I can't figure out where the wings are, or even which way it's actualy moving for several minutes. It just looks like a metal tube in the sky,
Granted, your descripion of flames dosen't jive with an airliner, but a fighter with afterburners might.
I'll vote that you saw something U.S. military, possibly unmanned, and at a funky angle with bad lighting.
If it was any kind of ballistic missile, as others have said it would be going straight up, and when it came down, you'd have only seen it at night from it's re-entry heat.
Some, if not most, UAV's and cruise missiles, have very, very, skinny wings, and also have unconventional tail arrangments. (Think like the Preadator, it's got skinny glider wings for high-efficiency, and the tail is on the bottom not the top etc.)
If your eye/brain isn't seeing what it thinks it should, what your brain "interprets" can be way, way off.
It even could have been something as simple as a conventional aircraft or fighter where the wings were exactly parallel to your line of sight, so they did not protrude visibly from the fuselage. The tail? Maybe it was just the right shade of light blue or white to blend into the sky perfectly at that moment etc.
I see airliners all the time, especialy at dusk, where I know it's an airliner, but because of the sunlight, or the angle, I can't figure out where the wings are, or even which way it's actualy moving for several minutes. It just looks like a metal tube in the sky,
Granted, your descripion of flames dosen't jive with an airliner, but a fighter with afterburners might.
I'll vote that you saw something U.S. military, possibly unmanned, and at a funky angle with bad lighting.
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RebelRAM
Enlightened
You'll probably see it in a month or two on Mythbusters. You know how Adam and Jamie are. I think they re-visited the confederate rocket and tried to make a salami rocket only it sorta blew up on the launch pad. So maybe they are testing rockets again.
David_Campen
Enlightened
Some months ago I saw a beautiful trail from a Vandenburg launch. I had seen them before some minutes after the launch, this was the first I had seen at the exact instant of the launch. It was just after sunset but with light still in the sky, you could see the rocket traveling across the sky with the trail billowing out behind it.
LowBat
Flashlight Enthusiast
Vandenburg missiles straying off course were a common sight back in the 60's, and I'd see them as far north as the bay area. More interesting back then were the napalm tests along the bay wetlands due to the west coast manufacturer being located in Redwood City. That was a real light show.David_Campen said:
raggie33
*the raggedier*
- Joined
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maybe it was katie holmes trying to escape from tom cruise
Zigzago
Enlightened
Jack Bauer: Chloe, they've already launched the missile at LA! You've got to hack into the defense satellite and alter the trajectory!
Chloe (typing furiously): I'll see what I can do...
Chloe (typing furiously): I'll see what I can do...
Several months ago I was pulling out of my driveway to drive to school when I saw this thing flying in the air. It was very very low, less than a thousand feet up. I saw it for a split second before it disappeared behind some trees. It was very big too. It definitely was not a plane, and almost looked like a space ship. That very morning U.S.A. launched a craft, and then I saw this several hours after the launch. It couldnt have been from the launch because that would have been long gone, but it was a weird coincidence. I live in St Louis, Missouri and have never seen one here so I am still wondering about it, and whether or not it was a space ship.
PhotonWrangler
Flashaholic
raggie33 said:
:laughing:
Rothrandir
Flashaholic
TedTheLed
Flashlight Enthusiast
AJ --
I saw it coming and going through binoculars. It was qite close, seemed to be almost over the shoreline..I expected to glimpse wings every moment, but as it turned up the coast and I trained the glasses on it, I could see very clearly it was a perfectly tubular shape; perfectly parallel sides, no windows, no cockpit, no wings. just flame.
was it coincidence that two guys were here the day before flying their remote controlled helicopters in the field in front of me? I drove over to watch, I had never seen these things up close before. They actually did fly one upside down. they admitted they weren't good enough to do "tik-tok"
yet though.. (it's hard to describe, the copter whips to and fro vertically in an arc)
...could they have been Navy techies practicing with their equipment before the BIG launch?? (maybe not, those guys would know how to tik-tok, or wouldn't they..? mmmm.)
I saw it coming and going through binoculars. It was qite close, seemed to be almost over the shoreline..I expected to glimpse wings every moment, but as it turned up the coast and I trained the glasses on it, I could see very clearly it was a perfectly tubular shape; perfectly parallel sides, no windows, no cockpit, no wings. just flame.
was it coincidence that two guys were here the day before flying their remote controlled helicopters in the field in front of me? I drove over to watch, I had never seen these things up close before. They actually did fly one upside down. they admitted they weren't good enough to do "tik-tok"
yet though.. (it's hard to describe, the copter whips to and fro vertically in an arc)
...could they have been Navy techies practicing with their equipment before the BIG launch?? (maybe not, those guys would know how to tik-tok, or wouldn't they..? mmmm.)
