Racetrack contrails near Genoa, Italy on December 26 [Air France and EasyJet flights on hold, Fog]

[Trailspotter]

A video posted on Facebook on December 26, 2015 at 08:46 UTC shows a plane circling in the sky near Genoa and leaving a racetrack contrail
https://www.facebook.com/idromarco/posts/1230480320302678

Also, there is a photograph of the same or similar contrail taken at approximately the same location and posted at about the same time (08:50 UTC):

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10205805569243230&fref=nf

Flightradar24 payback identified two commercial flights, EasyJet U24205 and Air France AF1466, flying holding patterns near Genoa around the same time:

These flights were going from Paris to Pisa and Florence, respectively, but after being held near Genoa for an hour because of fog at the original destinations both flights were eventually diverted to Bologna.

I have located in Google Earth the transmission towers (electricity pylons) from the above video and photo and identified their common viewing direction (South):

This means that both video and photo captured the trail from the EasyJet flight. The Air France flight was held east of Genoa at altitude of 33000 ft, that is, 2000 ft higher than the EasyJet flight. Its observation could have been obscured by the Genoa geography, but a few partial images of its racetrack contrail taken from the same location are available from this blog:

See discussion below for more details.

PS Special thanks to @deirdre for sharing info on the FB post.

 

[Mick West]

http://italiavola.com/2015/12/26/nebbia-a-pisa-firenze-treviso-milano-e-ancona/

[Google translation] Very heavy fog this morning. Is hitting several airports in northern and central Italy as Milan, Venice, Treviso, Ancona, Florence and Pisa.
If Milan and Venice are managing the LVO - Low Visisbility Operations. Pisa, Florence do count with many flights gia'cancellati or diverted.
Florence
07:50 LX1690 Geneva (GVA) Swiss DH8D OE-LGP Diverted to BLQ
09:05 AF1066 Paris (CDG) Air France A318 F-Gügi Diverted to BLQ
09 : 10 LH308 Frankfurt (FRA) Lufthansa E190 D-AECE Diverted to BLQ
09:55 AF1466 Paris (CDG) Air France A318 F-Gugo Diverted to BLQ

http://www.firenzetoday.it/cronaca/nebbia-firenze-voli-cancellati-26-dicembre-2015.html

Unfortunate machine translation of "dirottati" (diverted) as "hijacked" there.

 

[Balance]

Is it this flight?
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/af1466/#85e2f85

ETA: https://translate.google.com/transl...o-aeroporti-arrivati-molti-aerei/&prev=search

Ten flights have been received so far in Bologna three airports that have soffertom problems fog.

Florence
07:50 LX1690 Geneva (GVA) Swiss DH8D OE-LGP Diverted to BLQ
09:05 AF1066 Paris (CDG) Air France A318 F-Gügi Diverted to BLQ
09:10 LH308 Frankfurt (FRA) Lufthansa E190 D-AECE Diverted to BLQ
09:55 AF1466 Paris (CDG) Air France A318 F-Gugo Diverted to BLQ

Beaten to it by the boss

 

[Mick West]

Some coverage in the Italian press:
http://www.ilsecoloxix.it/p/genova/2015/12/26/AS75T6v-cogoleto_dirottato_arenzano.shtml

Again with the unfortunate translation of dirottati:

 

[Trailspotter]

Is it this flight?
https://www.flightradar24.com/data/flights/af1466/#85e2f85

Yes, I've meant this one. However, there is another contender, EasyJet U24205, that was flying hold pattern over the sea south of Genoa at the same time:

http://www.flightradar24.com/data/airplanes/g-ezoo/#85e2654

The pics in the previous post by @Mick West are probably of the EasyJet contrail.

 

[Mick West]

Looks like seven or eight circuits in the photo:

Should be able to match that to FR24

 

[Trailspotter]

Looks like seven or eight circuits in the photo:

Should be able to match that to FR24

It also looks like the trail entering the holding pattern and the adjacent turns from the video give a better match to the EasyJet track:

@Mick West Could you modify the title to include this flight. I've already modified the OP, but do not know how to change the title.

 

[Mick West]

@Mick West Could you modify the title to include this flight. I've already modified the OP, but do not know how to change the title.

 

[Trailspotter]

I have located the transmission towers (electricity pylons) in the OP video and photo and identified their common viewing direction:

This means that the trail captured in both of them was from the EasyJet flight that was held 20+ miles south of the Genoa airport.

BTW, Harry Rhodes "concluded" from the video that these towers are just below these trails.

https://www.facebook.com/idromarco/posts/1230480320302678

I have updated and revised OP.

 

[Trailspotter]

I have been looking for photos of the AF1466 racetrack contrail and found some in a chemtrail blog. There are many photos of the EasyJet racetrack contrail taken from essentially the same location as the Streetview in my previous post and a few of a different trail taken in a different direction:

The reddish house with balconies is just behind the viewpoint of the StreetView image in the previous post:

It was blocking view on the other racetrack trail that was in easterly direction (that is, exactly where the Air France flight was held), but the northern end of the holding pattern was sticking out a bit.

 

[Trailblazer]

BTW, Harry Rhodes "concluded" from the video that these towers are just below these trails.
View attachment 16860
https://www.facebook.com/idromarco/posts/1230480320302678

I have updated and revised OP.

Can Harry really not tell the difference between a pylon and a transmitter tower??


BTW I don't think the times can be correct for both the photos in the OP. They seem to show the same contrail loops, but the second one has around four more circuits, and the straight contrail adjacent to them has spread out a large amount. There has to be more than four minutes between the photos.

 

[Trailspotter]

BTW I don't think the times can be correct for both the photos in the OP. They seem to show the same contrail loops, but the second one has around four more circuits, and the straight contrail adjacent to them has spread out a large amount. There has to be more than four minutes between the photos.

These are the times of FB posting, not when the video and photo were actually taken. The latter can be deduced from the FR24 playback by counting the turns.