Non-linear meteor trails

In this essay an attempt is made to not only review but reopen the debate on non-linear meteor trails. On the basis of data culled from various, now historical, sources it is found that approximately one in every two hundred of the visual meteors is likely to show a non-linear trail, and that of such trails about 60% will be continuously curved and 40% sinusoidal. It is suggested that two mechanisms may explain the various trail types: the continuously curved trails being a manifestation of the classical Magnus effect, and the sinusoidal trails resulting from torque-free precession.