Test flight tracked as far south as mid-valley

The jet trail that left an unusual circular pattern in the mid-valley sky Thursday prompted several theories from readers, ranging from Soviet aircraft to the wicked witch of the east.

Although no official explanation has been presented, one plausible answer has come forward that might explain the mystery before it becomes a full-blown X-File.

A reader suggests the contrail is actually from newly manufactured commercial airliners being tested by Boeing.

He directed the newspaper to a Web site that tracks flight patterns originating in Washington state.

FlightAware.com shows the meandering path of a flight from Boeing Field in Seattle that apparently came as far south as the mid-valley Thursday and then returned. The site says the plane departed at 11:40 a.m. and landed at 2:59 p.m. The loop-the-loop contrail was photographed over Albany around 2:30.

The Democrat-Herald was unable to reach Boeing officials Friday afternoon to confirm what the Web site showed.

At its southern tip over the mid-valley, the flight path shown on the site appears to circle in just the shape the contrails were seen.

More online

To view reader-submitted photos of the contrail, or to submit your own, go to http://gazettetimes.mycapture.com/mycapture/photos/index.aspx . To see the flight path of the Boeing

aircraft, see http://flightaware.com/live/flight /BOE504/history/20090129/1940Z/KBFI/KBFI.