Investigating “Contrails don’t persist“ with 70 years of books on clouds

There’s a common belief that “normal“ contrails cannot persist. But WHY do people think this? If you look back at any book on clouds in the last 70 years they will tell you that contrails sometimes fade away, and sometimes persist and spread out over the sky. So if someone tells you that contrails can’t persist, ask yourself what is more likely: A) They are mistaken B) All the books on clouds for the past 70 years are mistaken. I know it only shows books going back 57 years and I say “70 years“ in the