Global Information2010 California contrail incident information
 | This article may be excessively based on contemporary reporting. (March 2024) |
 Reported image of the "mystery" contrail captured by the NASA/NOAA GOES 11 satellite on November 8, 2010[1][2] | |
| Date | November 8, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Location | Airspace approximately 35 miles west of Los Angeles, California and north of Catalina Island |
| Also known as | "Mystery missile" "Mystery contrail"[3] |
| Type | Aviation-related incident |
| Cause | Speculated to be a contrail from U.S. Airways flight 808[4] or an RIM-161 Standard Missile[5] |
| Participants | Department of Defense Federal Aviation Administration KCBS |
On the evening of Monday, November 8, 2010, an unusually conspicuous contrail appeared about 35 miles west of Los Angeles, California in the vicinity of Catalina Island. News footage[a] of the event from a KCBS helicopter led to intense media coverage and speculation about a potential military missile launch, with many reporters and experts discussing the contrail and theorizing about its source.[6][7][8][9][10][11]
Coverage continued for several days. The Pentagon released a statement on November 9 that it could not identify the source of the vapor trail,[12] but both the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command stated it was not a foreign military launch.[12] On November 9, the FAA also issued a statement that it had not approved any commercial space launches in the area for the prior day.[13] Eventually, on November 10, about 30 hours after the contrail first gained press attention, a Pentagon spokesman stated there was no evidence to suggest the plume was anything but an aircraft contrail.[6][14] Some experts, however, held that the vapor trail could not be identified as an aircraft contrail with total certainty, and others stated it was a missile.[6][5]
While some uncertainty over the contrail's origin persisted,[6] the incident came to be seen as an example of news outlets being "captives of their sources" and irresponsibly pushing unverified theses; it was also interpreted as a lesson in the importance of exploring alternative hypotheses that fit available data.[6] U.S. federal and military authorities were also criticized for giving a series of "inconclusive" answers about the event and allowing the issue, in the words of one commentator, to "fester for days" without a clear resolution.[6]
- ^ "Infamous Contrail (aka the 'Mystery Missile') Spotted in Satellite Image". NBC News. 2010-11-17. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ Space.com staff (2010-11-16). "Infamous Contrail (aka the 'Mystery Missile') Spotted in Satellite Image". Space.com. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ "Mystery contrail leaves US military stumped". The Guardian. Associated Press. November 10, 2010. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
- ^ Matson, John. "Out to Launch?: "Mystery Missile" off California Coast Was Probably Just an Airliner, Pentagon Says". Scientific American. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
:12was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d e f Stelter, Brian; Broad, William J. (November 14, 2010). "How Smoky Plume in Sky Drew the Eyes of the World". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ "Mystery Missile: Launch of Unknown Missile Caught on Tape in California". ABC News. November 9, 2010. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ "RAW VIDEO: Mysterious Contrail Off Calif. - CBS Los Angeles". CBS News. CBS/AP. November 9, 2010. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ "Mystery of the California contrail". The Guardian. AP. November 9, 2010. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ Bryner, Jeanna (November 9, 2010). "Mystery Missile Launches Off California Coast". Space.com. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ Lee, Marcella (November 8, 2010). "Mysterious missile lights up the sky over the Pacific". CBS 8. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
- ^ a b "California: Vapor Trail Stumps Experts". The New York Times. AP. November 10, 2010. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ "Pentagon: Mystery Contrail Spotted Off Calif. Coast Was No Missile". NBC News. 2010-11-10. Archived from the original on February 18, 2024. Retrieved 2024-02-17.
- ^ Cloud, David S.; Barboza, Tony (November 11, 2010). "Pentagon says no evidence vapor trail came from anything but an aircraft". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2024-02-21.
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