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[Tony H]

standing outside earlier this afternoon, clear blue sky and settled upper atmosphere noticed lots of vapour trails for aircraft. Then I spotted a jet liner leaving no trail at all it passed overhead and after several miles it omitted  a very short trial compared to the other aircraft.  Got me thinking why  anyone enlighten me please?

[aaronjb]

They only leave trails when the gubmint is poisoning us - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemtrail_conspiracy_theory

(Or, they only leave contrails when there is enough water vapour in the air at that point to condense)

[ronnyd]

Went on a short break to Jersey a few years ago. Never seen so many contrails in my life. Must be on a lot of world routes.

[Terbs]

'Went on a short break to Jersey a few years ago. Never seen so many contrails in my life. Must be on a lot of world routes.'


A lot of aircraft going south use a beacon called ORTAC. This is one of the main beacons for flying south and heading north towards the UK. Jersey flights use this beacon, along with SKERY approaching from the NE. It is where Jersey Zone takes over from London Ctrl, also you enter French airspace (Brest).
 Hence you will see a lot of traffic in these areas
If you want contrails...come and live here.....we are a few miles from Bovingdon beacon, which, again is a main beacon for approach and departure for HR. Also transition aircraft use this beacon hence the many contrails we see on a day with the right conditions.
Slightly off topic, but reference a thread regarding aircraft....my house is a perfect gem for Flight Radar24.
A plane spotters gem, here. Low stuff in and out of HR plus transitions, also Luton approach and departure, and a number of local airfields, and as said previously, contrail heaven

[ronnyd]

Thanks for the info terbert

[Terbs]

You are welcome, Ronny. Although I should have said NW for SKERY, not NE. Just checked my charts for Jersey Zone, and realised my geography was a**e about face
Good job I am a virtual pilot, not a real one

[LC0112G]

Here is a site that allows you to see the airways network worldwide :

https://skyvector.com/

Click on the "World Hi" button, and then zoom in on the are of interest. ORTAC and SALCO are the common French/UK airspace crossing points, but there are others. The EGD areas are military danger areas which means not much overflies them, so the civilian traffic gets funnelled into thin strips of airspace between them, hence the concentration of chemtrails .

[Migalot]

standing outside earlier this afternoon, clear blue sky and settled upper atmosphere noticed lots of vapour trails for aircraft. Then I spotted a jet liner leaving no trail at all it passed overhead and after several miles it omitted  a very short trial compared to the other aircraft.  Got me thinking why  anyone enlighten me please?

As vapour trails are caused by the hot engine gases condensing water in the atmosphere, the amount of vapour is dependent upon the relative humidity of the air mass though which the plane is passing. This varies not only with over climatic conditions, but also altitude with different layers having different "dew points" (one indicator of relative humidity).   

[frostbite]

Have you guys seen a fuel dump?

Quite the sight