However, KT, what you describe, a regularly occurring pattern of contrails along the same tracks at the same time does lead meto a quite different conclusion than you or your daughter have made.

When I see a regular pattern of contrails, along a similar track or during a particular time of day, to me this leads me to hypothesize that perhaps my observation is the result of ordinary scheduled commercial jet traffic, regularly scheduled airlines carrying passengers, not somene “erasing the sun”, or “protecting us from radiation” or “putting chemicals in our bodies”.

Here is what I do.
1. go to
http://www.flightaware.com

2. hover over “Live Flight Tracking”
3. when you do this, move slightly right and click on “browse by airport”
4. you will see a list of states, Choose any airport in your state
5. you will see a list of airports. Pick a major airport in your state, or any airport, and click on the link to the right of the airport which says “flight tracker”
6. you will see a map of the airport area. at the lower right corner of the map, you will see a symbol with crossed arrows. Click on the symbol and a new page will open showing the area, maximize that window to view it full screen
7. On the map, you will see airplanes flying around the map. If you want to see the airplanes flying over your area, just use your mouse to drag the screen so that you can findyour location, then you can zom in or out to see more flights headed your way, passing overhead, etc.
8. If you need more informaton about the planes you see, just hover over the plane and you can get more info or if you have trouble, just return and ask your questions.

My present location is just offshore from south Louisiana, on a boat working in the Gulf of Mexico. All day long I have been showing my crewmates the contrails, and explaining that what we saw were mostly flights to/from Florida and Houston, TX or points west. Here is a typical flight, we see many of these every day:

http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AAL685/history/20120429/1845Z/KMIA/KIAH

Thank you for your educational replies. I haven’t heard before about some types of aircraft indeed being able to carry a spare engine under the wing. My previous post was intended to be a 1st April joke. I was and am confident about an extra “engine” on my photos being a trick of light. The right engine was illuminated by the sun on one side only, whereas the left engine was additionally illuminated on the other side by the reflecting light from the fuselage. The second bright area on the left engine, separated from the first by a darker strip, created an illusion of an extra engine on the left side.