Debra
Member
Wow, they are awesome!
Photos of Planes and Contrails (That you took yourself)
- Thread starter Mick West
- Start date
Wow, they are awesome!
Mackdog
Active Member
There's nothing better than a contrail heading off into the sunset, (or sunrise) those are always coolView attachment 9862
View attachment 9859
and my first semi-clear airplane! (the guy at RadioShack was right, its not that easy to find a plane in you camera, zoom and still stay steady enough for a clear shot
View attachment 9861
We had very clear skies here today in the southern UK, with low humidity so contrails were not persisting. However around sunset the short contrails were really standing out in the clear sky so I thought I'd see just how far away I could see a plane with a short contrail.
First of all, this one was passing by to my west, heading south from Manchester to Marrakesh (Thomson flight TOM730, a Boeing 737):
I could follow it well to the south, brightly lit by the setting sun:
Here you can see the screen of FlightRadar24 showing the distance to the plane as 70 miles (I couldn't get both in focus at once!)
And by the time the plane was hidden behind the nearby houses, the distance was actually 75 miles, with the plane well out over the English Channel. If it wasn't for that chimney I reckon it might still have been just about visible at 100 miles.
First of all, this one was passing by to my west, heading south from Manchester to Marrakesh (Thomson flight TOM730, a Boeing 737):
I could follow it well to the south, brightly lit by the setting sun:
Here you can see the screen of FlightRadar24 showing the distance to the plane as 70 miles (I couldn't get both in focus at once!)
And by the time the plane was hidden behind the nearby houses, the distance was actually 75 miles, with the plane well out over the English Channel. If it wasn't for that chimney I reckon it might still have been just about visible at 100 miles.
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And another one, which flew almost directly overhead: Alitalia AZ610 from Rome to JFK (an Airbus 330):
Ten minutes after I took that photo with the flight almost directly overhead, it was 81 miles away, just the other side of the Welsh border, but still just about visible with the naked eye catching the last rays of the sun. Not bad for such a short trail:
And a bonus photo - just before I took that last shot, coming the other way was an Atlas Air cargo flight from Chicago to Stuttgart (flight 5Y8250), at 41,000ft, leaving much longer trails than the Alitalia flight at 36,000ft, although still not persisting.
Contrail spotters will recognise what plane was laying these beauties in an instant...
(contrast enhanced on that one, obviously!)
Ten minutes after I took that photo with the flight almost directly overhead, it was 81 miles away, just the other side of the Welsh border, but still just about visible with the naked eye catching the last rays of the sun. Not bad for such a short trail:
And a bonus photo - just before I took that last shot, coming the other way was an Atlas Air cargo flight from Chicago to Stuttgart (flight 5Y8250), at 41,000ft, leaving much longer trails than the Alitalia flight at 36,000ft, although still not persisting.
Contrail spotters will recognise what plane was laying these beauties in an instant...
(contrast enhanced on that one, obviously!)
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Trailspotter
Senior Member.
A 12x optical zoom shot of a brand new private jet (Embraer Legacy 650, registration G-SUGR) flying right overhead at 38,000ft:
The one Lord Sugar tweets about…
For comparison, here is my recent photo of A380 at about the same distance with the same camera settings:
The one Lord Sugar tweets about…
For comparison, here is my recent photo of A380 at about the same distance with the same camera settings:
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derwoodii
Senior Member.
at work i watched this wondered where it was from and heading my poor fligtradar24 skills a dam slow internet has not helped If anyone wishes please help i'd say was flight from Avalon or code AVV and my camera time is right atm
interesting hour later the original 14.05 trail had dispersed into thin streak of cloud
then a second flight out or in of avalon AVV over Portphillip bay later that afternoon
i'd say this is the flight track,,,er well my best guess i was looking north from Frankston area and think it was a jetstar melbourne to Sydney
interesting hour later the original 14.05 trail had dispersed into thin streak of cloud
then a second flight out or in of avalon AVV over Portphillip bay later that afternoon
i'd say this is the flight track,,,er well my best guess i was looking north from Frankston area and think it was a jetstar melbourne to Sydney
Melbourne is 11 hours ahead of GMT at the moment, so that first shot (second on the post) was at 03:05 on October 30.
Which way were you facing in those shots, @derwoodii - was that still over the bay as well?
If so it was probably QF64 from Jo'burg to Sydney:
The later shot, 16:30 your time, 05:30 GMT, could have been either TT254 or VA859 Melbourne to Sydney, but that trail looks older to me, and heading east to west, so might it have been this one from Auckland to Perth?
Which way were you facing in those shots, @derwoodii - was that still over the bay as well?
If so it was probably QF64 from Jo'burg to Sydney:
The later shot, 16:30 your time, 05:30 GMT, could have been either TT254 or VA859 Melbourne to Sydney, but that trail looks older to me, and heading east to west, so might it have been this one from Auckland to Perth?
And here's one I snapped on my lunch break.
That's Qantas QF9 from Dubai, descending to Heathrow. About 4,000ft up in that photo.
That's Qantas QF9 from Dubai, descending to Heathrow. About 4,000ft up in that photo.
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Efftup
Senior Member.
I like the comment that says one did a u turn round the sun but I was too discouraged to take a picture and actually have some evidence of this happening so people didn't think i had misinterpreted something or made it up. mmmm
derwoodii
Senior Member.
thanks, that be them i had wondered why trails were forming low over melb on a warm spring day but these 2 were very high 37k and the air be plenty cool up there, i often forget that my city may not be the origin or destination and that fly overs occur, just dont notice less they leave a mark.
Is there a noob tutorial how to track out trails by tracker24 eg plug in air space time of day and cull for ceiling heights etc,,, i need one as fluffed about for hours with no luck
On the flightradar24 you can set up filters from the menu at the left of the map screen. If you're looking for a contrail, set an altitude filter, say, above 28000ft, which removes the local low-altitude clutter from the screen.
Then you can select "playback" and plug in the date and time (it defaults to UTC time so you need to adjust for your time zone).
That's really all there is to it, remembering that trails are often further away than you'd think — one low down near the horizon could be 100km away.
.
derwoodii
Senior Member.
thanks, I had done or attempted most of that but reckon need to practice more and then my data speed seems to jam or lag the pages,,, need to kick the son of his games soaking up the speed.
Bruce Lansberg
Member
Some early morning contrails, taken from the kitchen of my former apartment, 2006 and 2007 (all October, Almere, NL, looking east). Some fresh, some already turned into cirrus, and some in between. But all of them rather persistent.
And a more recent one from the roofdeck (Amsterdam, October 2013, looking south-east)
And a more recent one from the roofdeck (Amsterdam, October 2013, looking south-east)
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A bit of a silly one, but it caught my eye on the way to work this morning: the Shard in rocket-launcher mode 
Seriously, though, a nice illustration of how a plane in level flight can appear to be going vertically if it is flying towards you. I think it was this one:
Seriously, though, a nice illustration of how a plane in level flight can appear to be going vertically if it is flying towards you. I think it was this one:
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derwoodii
Senior Member.
holiday snaps as been sailing past 6 days off QLD whitsundays http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitsunday_Islands
you had to be quik as they dissipated fast as laid down
Didn't worry about tracking flights i was in holiday mode just taking the opp
Over Pentecost island
Over Whitsunday Island
Over Hamilton AP as virgin lands from the north a seen trail above it
you had to be quik as they dissipated fast as laid down
Didn't worry about tracking flights i was in holiday mode just taking the opp
Over Pentecost island
Over Whitsunday Island
Over Hamilton AP as virgin lands from the north a seen trail above it
A very contrail-filled sky this morning.
deirdre
Senior Member.
beautiful shot!
Trailspotter
Senior Member.
A couple of hours later, facing the other way. A nice illustration of where the routes converge (just west of Reading) to head west.
Actually the trail coming in from top centre was Paris to Dublin, and the one from top right was Amsterdam to Willemstad in the Caribbean.
Edit: and a panorama showing how the entire sky is filled with trails of varying ages. Pretty impressive stuff!
Actually the trail coming in from top centre was Paris to Dublin, and the one from top right was Amsterdam to Willemstad in the Caribbean.
Edit: and a panorama showing how the entire sky is filled with trails of varying ages. Pretty impressive stuff!
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Whitebeard
Senior Member
12.45 gmt from my front door, central Bristol, uk looking North
Hope this isn't considered off topic, as it is related to member pics posted above. Here is a satellite view of the UK yesterday, late morning. Lots and lots of contrails.
Detailed view (250m per pixel) here: http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=United_Kingdom_Ireland.2014328.aqua.250m
Detailed view (250m per pixel) here: http://lance-modis.eosdis.nasa.gov/imagery/subsets/?subset=United_Kingdom_Ireland.2014328.aqua.250m
hiilikeyourbird
Member
Nice aerosol spraying! Beautiful colors
Yes, clouds are aerosols, and produce attractive colours at sunrise and sunset. Not sure about the word "spraying", though, which implies intent.
MikeC
Closed Account
Mackdog
Active Member
Maybe if we consider a jet engine to be a spraying device, spraying out exhaust that turns moisture into aerosols, then maybe it is sprayed aerosols
MikeC
Closed Account
@hiilikeyourbird - you disagree with this - can I ask what bit?
Clouds are certainly aerosols - the dictionary definition of aerosol in this context is a colloidal suspension of particles dispersed in air or gas - and clouds are particles of water suspended in air.
Clouds do produce colours at sunset and sunrise as per my link above on Atmospheric Refraction.
so I guess that you disagree with Trailblazer not thinking there is any intent to "spray" contrails?
cloudspotter
Senior Member.
M Bornong
Senior Member.
Cool, thanks
After clear blue cloudless (and contrail-less) skies yesterday morning, conditions gradually got better for contrail formation through the afternoon, ahead of a band of rain this morning. There was quite a narrow, and relatively low, "window" for persistent contrails, and I caught this one from when it formed to when it drifted out of sight more than half an hour later:
This is the plane responsible, a Martinair MD-11 flying from Amsterdam to Miami (flight MP1161) at 30,000 feet:
The rapidly dissipating trail it is crossing is from a Cargolux 747 (flight CV661 fro Houston to Luxembourg), flying at 39,000ft, just out of shot. Here's a FlightRadar screen grab of the crossing point:
While the trail at 39,000ft quickly dispersed, the one at 30,000ft persisted as it was blown south by the wind
3:05pm, two minutes after the first photo above:
3:12pm - note the two higher planes which are only leaving very short contrails. On the left, BA7031, Glasgow-Toulouse, at 35000ft, and on the right, EI345, Zurich-Dublin, at 38,000ft:
3:22pm:
By 3:31pm, it had drifted a long way to the south. The fresh trail crossing it here was ZB458 (Birmingham - Lanzarote) which was still climbing, and reached 30,000ft about three minutes before this photo was taken: you can see where the trail fades in just before it crosses the old trail. If the cloud wasn't hiding it, you'd probably see it fading out again as the plane continued to climb:
I've just got hold of a digital SLR so hopefully I'll be able to get some better shots than this old 5mp Lumix soon!
This is the plane responsible, a Martinair MD-11 flying from Amsterdam to Miami (flight MP1161) at 30,000 feet:
The rapidly dissipating trail it is crossing is from a Cargolux 747 (flight CV661 fro Houston to Luxembourg), flying at 39,000ft, just out of shot. Here's a FlightRadar screen grab of the crossing point:
While the trail at 39,000ft quickly dispersed, the one at 30,000ft persisted as it was blown south by the wind
3:05pm, two minutes after the first photo above:
3:12pm - note the two higher planes which are only leaving very short contrails. On the left, BA7031, Glasgow-Toulouse, at 35000ft, and on the right, EI345, Zurich-Dublin, at 38,000ft:
3:22pm:
By 3:31pm, it had drifted a long way to the south. The fresh trail crossing it here was ZB458 (Birmingham - Lanzarote) which was still climbing, and reached 30,000ft about three minutes before this photo was taken: you can see where the trail fades in just before it crosses the old trail. If the cloud wasn't hiding it, you'd probably see it fading out again as the plane continued to climb:
I've just got hold of a digital SLR so hopefully I'll be able to get some better shots than this old 5mp Lumix soon!
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WeedWhacker
Senior Member
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