You know, the earth is round, and if a jet is passing directly over you as it comes over the horizon, its contrail looks vertical.

Of course, we know what this was. It was a slow speed chase involving a white Ford Bronco.

As Jon Stewart notes, quoting the helicopter pilot who filmed it, this “rocket plume” continued for about 10 f%$#ing minutes, which would put the missile (assuming a 1 G acceleration) would put the missile about 1800 km (100 mi) down range.

<Facepalm>