A lesson for Tippit
Tippit likes to claim he's in a rural area without many commercial flights. How well does this claim affect his ability to see contrails from his location?
The first image below is a screen shot of a FlightExplorer display (blue dots) of all commercial and private flights (no military) over the continental U.S. this morning, 4,962 flights at the instant of this screen shot.
In addition the dashed lines display high altitude airways used by commercial aircraft. Aircraft do not always use these airways if ATC directs then otherwise. The screen shot gives an idea of the density of commercial and private aircraft over rural areas during daylight hours.
Click on image for larger view:
The second screen shot below is a zoomed-in image of a specific flight over Pierre, South Dakota, a fairly rural state. The tag shows us that it is Delta Airlines Flight 1003, flying at 38,000 ft, 414 mph, flying from JFK, NY, to Salt Lake City. It also tells us that the aircraft is a Boeing 757 Model 200. A typical flight flying at common altitude over a rural state.
The black circle centered on the aircraft delineates the distance to the horizon from the flight. At 38,000 feet the horizon is 239 statue miles away. One can see from Delta 1003's flight level and location, that the entire state of South Dakota is enclosed in that range ring, but good size chunks of North Dakota and Nebraska, and smaller parts of Minnesota, Iowa, Colorado, and Wyoming.
On good clear days, it is very easy to see contrails that are only 5 degrees above the horizon. What this means is that if Tippit were virtually
anywhere in South Dakota, he would have a good chance of seeing the contrail from Delta 1003 on a clear day. It also means that he has a good chance of seeing many aircraft producing contrails when atmospheric conditions are conducive. And if he claims that they are chemtrails, then a very sizable population over a great territory can see them, too.
Click on image for larger view:
Tippit's photos (
http://s261.photobucket.com/albums/ii55/Tippit_photos/Chemtrails/)
show many contrails that are not overhead but are within 10 degrees to around 45 degrees above the horizon. I am sure he doesn't want to reveal his location to us, but he can see for himself that he can see contrails from quite a distance.