Omega loop contrail over Toronto: Veni Vidi Volavi?.. [Likely Bombardier Test Flight from Montreal]

[Trailspotter]

These flickr photos of an unusually shaped contrail were taken on 14-May-2015 in Hamilton, Ontario:

and University of Toronto:

The time of the latter, 13:23, is probably EDT (17:23 UTC), whereas the time of the former, 12:56 is probably EST (17:56 UTC).
A partial contrail loop is also seen above Lake Ontario in the Aqua satellite image taken at 17:40 UTC:

FR24 playback from 17:10 UTC shows that there was indeed a plane making such a turn at 43,000 ft above the area at about 17:20 UTC:

This was a Bombardier Global 6000, but, unfortunately, there is no tail number or other ID shown on FR24. Having originated in Montreal, the flight followed a rather odd path and returned back to the origin:

The purpose of this flight remains a mystery to me. Perhaps, somebody can shed light to it. I wonder if this contrail was noticed by others and discussed on fora or social networks.

UPDATE: It probably was a test flight, see the comments below. There is another picture of the contrail loop taken in North York, Toronto at about the same time as the Aqua satellite image:

 

[Mick West]

Likely a test flight from the Mirabel Aerospace Center where Bombardiers are tested.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirabel_Aerospace_Centre

Phase II of the Mirabel Aerospace Centre, already underway and scheduled for completion in spring 2011, includes construction of a highly advanced assembly and test facility. At the new facility, P&WC will assemble and test the PurePower PW1524G for the Bombardier CSeries and the PW800 engine family for the next generation of large business jets.

Although it did actually do a round trip from YUL (Montreal International), Mirabel is very close.

 

[Mick West]

Actually, Bombardier has a factory at YUL, between the runways.

 

[Trailspotter]

Actually, Bombardier has a factory at YUL, between the runways.
View attachment 12880

Wikipedia article says:

Bombardier Aerospace has an assembly facility on site where they build regional jets and Challenger business jets.

In the above picture, the planes parked at the north side are probably Challengers, but that at the south side is a bit longer and could be a Global Express. The latter, however, is manufactured in Toronto.

 

[Trailspotter]

Although I agree with the most likely explanation of this round trip flight being a manufacturer's test flight, its track seems rather unusual. I tracked analogous test flights before, they usually did rounds not far from their origins. Of course, in a big country, like Canada, there are less geographical constraints for the flight going far to the wilderness and back, but was there a reason for climbing up above the regular air traffic and making a turn over the big city? Was it a salute to its birthplace or a promotion of chemtrail narrative?

Well, the contrail loop was noted by local chemmies and its photo was posted in Toronto Chemtrails FB page:

Sadly, there was no discussion of this observation that could bring more photos.
I must say that I'm rather disappointed by not finding many pictures of this contrail, as at this altitude it ought to be seen from afar. Yet so far, I found only three photos on flickr (in OP) and one on FB

 

[Mick West]

Although I agree with the most likely explanation of this round trip flight being a manufacturer's test flight, its track seems rather unusual. I tracked analogous test flights before, they usually did rounds not far from their origins. Of course, in a big country, like Canada, there are less geographical constraints for the flight going far to the wilderness and back, but was there a reason for climbing up above the regular air traffic and making a turn over the big city? Was it a salute to its birthplace or a promotion of chemtrail narrative?

Here's another YUL-YUL flight on May 14, which went a similar distance, but in the other direction
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CDR687/history/20150514/1300Z/CYUL/CYUL

 

[Trailspotter]

Here's another YUL-YUL flight on May 14, which went a similar distance, but in the other direction
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/CDR687/history/20150514/1300Z/CYUL/CYUL

Yes, but this was a Challenger flying from its nest, whereas a GLEX is a "cuckoo" at the Bombardier factory in YUL. Its track is here (note the flight ID BBA37):
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BBA37/history/20150514/1330Z/CYUL/CYUL

I've checked BBA37 flight history (it is done by several different aircraft), the large trapeze loop is a routine track, whereas the detour to Toronto is probably a diversion.

 

[Mick West]

The Global Express is manufactured in Toronto, maybe this was some kind of celebratory flyover. They flew directly over Toronto international. The Global Express factory is at Downsview, nine miles to the East.

 

[Sagittarius]

Having lived for many years in Hamilton, I'd agree with you that the loop extending southwards over Lake Ontario towards Hamilton in your satellite image above is the same as the one in the street view at the top of the thread. Judging by the shadows and the smoke plume (from the steel mills), the photo was taken looking north. (If that's any help at all! )

 

[TEEJ]

 

[TEEJ]

Published on 14 May 2015
Thursday May 14th 2015, Toronto Ontario Canada got sprayed with major Chemtrail's. I saw a plane do a complete U-Turn and diverted his flight path while Spraying. What does the government get out of this other than harming our environment ? Is our government geoengineering aerosol chemtrails ?

 

[Trailspotter]

GLEX … track is here (note the flight ID BBA37):
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/BBA37/history/20150514/1330Z/CYUL/CYUL
View attachment 12886
I've checked BBA37 flight history (it is done by several different aircraft), the large trapeze loop is a routine track, whereas the detour to Toronto is probably a diversion.

Interestingly, there is a large difference between the flown and planned distances: Planned: 1,692 sm; Flown: 2,115 sm. The Toronto diversion was not planned, as revealed by switching off the Flown Route in the above flightaware link.

 

[Trailspotter]

Thanks to @TEEJ for the youtube links, a timely reminder to search videos as well for the images of such events.

 

[Trailspotter]

Having lived for many years in Hamilton, I'd agree with you that the loop extending southwards over Lake Ontario towards Hamilton in your satellite image above is the same as the one in the street view at the top of the thread. Judging by the shadows and the smoke plume (from the steel mills), the photo was taken looking north. (If that's any help at all! )

I think that the photo was taken looking northeast, judging by its time and the lamppost shadows. This can be verified by finding that particular location on Google StreetView, but there is no need for that. The track from Flightaware matches the contrail in the satellite image by size and shape, but the latter is off by 30 km (20 miles) to the East of South:

This offset can be explained by the wind, as the turn was completed 15-20 minutes before the satellite photo (it was the Aqua satellite, not Terra, as I mistakenly put in the OP initially). In contrast, the University of Toronto photo was taken at the time of the turn formation, so the track matches the contrail in it well:

 

[deirdre]

I must say that I'm rather disappointed by not finding many pictures of this contrail, as at this altitude it ought to be seen from afar

yea but if thats a fairly regular thing, the people who live there are used to it most likely. it wouldnt even occur to me to take a pic of a plane turning around, even though ive never seen that over me. the second pic in your OP i might take as the wispy rib cloud is pretty.

 

[TEEJ]

C-GZDY from Plane Finder.

An aviation enthusiast/photographer, Bill Fawcett, photographed C-GZDY landing back at its operating base in the Montreal area on 14th May 2015.

Group Description
Pictures here should be taken at or around YUL (Montreal International Airport - Trudeau), YMX (Mirabel Airport) or YHU (St-Hubert Airport... It can be pics of inside the airport, outside on the tarmac or spotting as planes come and go.

https://www.flickr.com/groups/yul/

 

[Trailspotter]

yea but if thats a fairly regular thing, the people who live there are used to it most likely. it wouldnt even occur to me to take a pic of a plane turning around, even though ive never seen that over me. the second pic in your OP i might take as the wispy rib cloud is pretty.

I do not think that was a fairly regular thing. The detour and flyover were not a part of a regular test route, although there were different excursion from this route previously (KMZ files with the selected flight tracks is attached):

On February 3, 2015, the same plane flew over Toronto but turned directly to Montreal.

I think that the photos are few because the contrail loop was too big to fit into a single frame, when filmed from Toronto itself. The chemtrail activists, who know that "this cannot be from a commercial plane" took videos instead. One was clearly in a hurry to capture it (the second youtube video in the first @TEEJ post above). Interestingly, he managed to fit the entire loop into the frame. This was because he was filming from Alliston Wallmart, some 35 miles to the north of the Toronto Airport (the centre of the loop):

As the video were taken at the time of the turn formation, the trail matches the flight track well.

 

[deirdre]

As the video were taken at the time of the turn formation, the trail matches the flight track well

i only half understand what youre saying but that second pic of the vid from the bottom of your post is a nice shot of how as the planes get further away the trail is closer to the horizon.

 

[Trailspotter]

i only half understand what youre saying but that second pic of the vid from the bottom of your post is a nice shot of how as the planes get further away the trail is closer to the horizon.

What I meant is little time lapsed since the contrail loop was formed, so it was not blown far away from the track by the wind

 

[Trailspotter]

the second pic in your OP i might take as the wispy rib cloud is pretty.

It looks pretty because that photo was enhanced. I found another photo of the same contrail loop taken from a nearby location at about the same time. it looks dull and was taken mainly because the photographer spotted something within and then outside the loop:

Paul Shishis managed to capture an unidentified object within and then outside of a jet's circular pattern over Scarborough, Ontario on May 14, 2015…

http://www.examiner.com/slideshow/circular-jet-pattern-on-may-14-2015-ufo-1#slide=2

 

[Mick West]

C-GZDY from Plane Finder.

It's interesting that Plane Finder reports the registration, but FR24 does not. There's significant differences between the two services. I've also see the opposite happen.

 

[Mick West]

the photographer spotted something within and then outside the loop:

Looks exactly like a bird would look like at that resolution.

 

[Trailspotter]

Looks exactly like a bird would look like at that resolution.

From other images, I would tentatively identify it as a crow
Anyway, no similar objects appear within or near the contrail loop in other images taken at about the same time but from different locations. This means the object almost certainly was much lower than the trail.

 

[Trailspotter]

Finally I found a few twitter pictures with the same explanation:

 

[Psychic]

yea but if thats a fairly regular thing, the people who live there are used to it most likely. it wouldnt even occur to me to take a pic of a plane turning around, even though ive never seen that over me.

It's not a regular thing - I lived in Toronto (North York) until I was seventeen and would often lay on a grassy knoll and watch the sky, but cannot recall ever seeing an aircraft do that.

 

[Efftup]

Grassy knoll? you didn't have anything long and thin with a scope attached in your hands did you?

 

[Psychic]

Grassy knoll? you didn't have anything long and thin with a scope attached in your hands did you?

Sadly, neither Chrétien nor Harper ever drove by.

 

[Efftup]

Sadly, neither Chrétien nor Harper ever drove by.

They flew over your head you idiot!!! you had the wrong weapon.

Seriously though, I think it's great that the technology exists for normal people to track stuff like this. But makers have to test their stuff somewhere and any trails they make will be visible for up to 200 miles away.