This may not be the right forum, but I will post here. This morning, my wife and I saw numerous contrails (looking toward the east) from our home in the mountains in south central PA just north of the Maryland state line. All of the contrails were distinct indicating (to me) that the upper atmosphere was rather �quiet�. However one of the contrails made a distinct right angle turn from an SE direction to an WNW heading with no noticeable planes (contrails) near it. It is hard to imagine that a commercial flight would change direction in this manner � other explanations?

Sober and curious in PA, Bill

There are substantial numbers and types of a/c which commonly operate within the altitude parameters where contrails occur. IIRC,"Contrails" occur at altitudes where weather conditions (optimal temperature and humidity) combine with the turbulence created by the a/c passage. The altitude ranges within which contrails occur are constantly changing, vary from location to location and moment to moment, and may not be present at all.

....And you do understand that commercial and business a/c do follow flight plans which as they approach destinations (or even areas with substantial flight activity) in which turns (or even spiraling descents/ascents) are routine. Of course, ATC controllers , aware of traffic or conditions may call for any a/c to maneuver for any one of a variety of reasons.

Your bird could have easily been a USAF/USN/USMC (Active or Reserve) a/c carrying out any one of dozens of different types of flights, from routine training to exercise or actual missions involving air patrols common over Washington, DC and Camp David. During the years when Bush '43 vacationed at his Crawford, TX ranch, the contrails of F16s out of Ellington AFB near Houston routinely drew giant patterns in the sky.

It was long ago, so hardly a security lapse to mention these days, but I recall night watches in the CIC of a USN vessel deployed in the Med, watching the radar tracks of the US Strategic Air Command's "Airborne Alerts" B52s writing extended figure 8s far from home but closer to the borders of the old USSR. I suspect that the B52s carefully avoided altitudes within which they generated contrails.

It must have been a UFO or extraterrestrial vehicle. It's a well-known limitation of human-built aircraft that they are incapable of changing direction in flight. All airplane travel is conducted in a straight line, from one airport to another. I suggest calling the Weekly World News and informing them of your amazing discovery.