buzzer1 said:
Ah there you are Gelse, mornin'. Now completely off thread but could you tell me why the sky looks like a slashed up canvas with thick white lines and somedays it is'nt? i have monitored certain days over a 4 week period and there is the same plane activity but with seemingly different skies? and most definately the day after the trails, it is overcast? Whats your thoughts?
Yes.
The white lines are condensation trails or "con trails" the conditions required to create the trails are a quite narrow range of temperature and humidity. In the right conditions the trails will be formed by the water vapour from the engine exhaust adding to the water content in the atmosphere and pushing the value over the local saturation point. The saturation point changes with temperature and pressure. However the atmosphere isn't constant. There is a standard model called the international Standard Atmosphere or ISA and in aviation we refer to temperature (and therefore density altitude) with reference to ISA. So I may look at my Outside Air Temperature at 30,000ft and see that it's -45C this would be about standard. It would equate to a sea level temperature of +15.However, it's not unusual to find yourself in ISA -10 or ISA + 10 at medium altitudes (below the tropopause). This not only effects the performance of the engines but also along with the humidity whether or not con trails are formed and how long they last. As the altitudes that the aircraft fly are pretty standard then on some days at those altitudes the right conditions will exist and on others they wont. Hence some days lots of trails which last for hours and other days none.
I've flow across the atlantic following another aircrafts trail all the way and on other days seen none. Some times they last for hours and other times they brake up quickly. Some times they can form into a row of doughnuts which looks cool