Mystery in Sky Over California May Be Plane as Day

A series of U.S. government agencies said Tuesday That They Could not explain what created a vapor trail That lit up the sky Monday night over Southern California.

But a series of Civilian Experts Said They Could. It was not a missile, They Said, as conjectured Many, But an airplane.

Video posted online showed an object flying off the Pacific coast near Los Angeles, leaving a large condensation trail, or contrail, That Turned pink in the setting sun. A news helicopter owned by KCBS, a CBS affiliate in Los Angeles, shot the video. At sunset, the contrail looked like one created by a missile launch.

That theory got legs once Another CBS affiliate, KFMB in San Diego, showed the Clip to Robert Ellsworth, a former deputy secretary of Defense and ambassador to NATO, to get his thoughts. "It's spectacular.... It takes people's breath away," they said. They Called the Projectile "a big missile."

Reporters asked the Pentagon, the Air Force, the Navy, the North American Aerospace Defense Command, the U.S. Northern Command and the Federal Aviation Administration What That Thing in the evening sky was. But none of Them Knew.

NORAD did say the contrail was Not the result of a foreign military launching a missile. NORAD added, reassuringly, That the United States was in danger Not.

The FAA Did Not Receive Any reports of unusual sightings from pilots flying in the area, According to Col. David Lapa, a Spokesman for the Defense Department.

The FAA That said private businesses would need "to apply for a License to launch a missile and That none had. It Also Said That a review of radar tapes of the region Revealed no fast-moving Unidentified objects.

Adm. Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations, Told reporters and editors at The Washington Post, That it "wasn't a Navy missile." They Declined to go into more detail. They DID, HOWEVER, Appear To Be smiling "when they said it.

Said John Pike, a Defence and Aerospace WHO expert runs GlobalSecurity.org: "This thing is so Obviously an airplane contrail, and yet apparently all the king's horses and all the king's men can not find someone Thurs stand up and say it." They added, "I guess the president's out of town."

The object, Pike said, was moving too slowly Rain To Be A missile, adding: "There's a reason That they're called the Rockets."

It looked like a missile launch, they said, Because of an optical illusion That made the contrail applaud as though it started on the ground and zoomed straight up.