A346Dude From Canada, joined Nov 2004, 1200 posts, RR: 8 Posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 5178 times:
I don't fly commercially particularly often, so I was wondering if under certain conditions it is possible to see the contrail of the plane you are in. I assume you would have to be close to the back of the aircraft and the conditions would have to encourage the rapid formation of contrails. Is this correct?
Also, if it is possible can anyone point me towards any photos that show them visible from a window?
Thanks,
A346Dude
You know the gear is up and locked when it takes full throttle to taxi to the terminal.
FutureUApilot From United States of America, joined May 2004, 1365 posts, RR: 4 Reply 1, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 5162 times:
I would think the farther back you are the easier it would be able to see if it was possilbe. Just a guess though. It would be visible if the back Air Stairs were open durring flight...
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 2, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 5166 times:
No one can see it if you are not pulling one. Obvious, but don't spend a lot of time staring if no other planes are pulling cons.
As a passenger, especially on a long-body aircraft you can see it begin to form back around the last few rows of seats. It is very faint, but visible.
From the cockpit - only in a turn of about 40 degrees or more. I once did a turn in holding at FL330 and saw my whole holding pattern as I made the turns. That was pretty cool.
If you are looking down-sun you can see the bright spot that surrounds your shadow. If you are pulling a contrail you can see its shadow pointing to your shadow.
As cockpit windows are angled to favor forward visibility, it is hard to see more than a few feet of your wingtips from the flight deck.
I've always enjoyed following another jet on an airway, maybe twenty miles behind them. Some times you can fly along a hundred yards or so from their contrail and watch it twist and loop back over itself. Really cool!
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
DAirbus From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 587 posts, RR: 2 Reply 4, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 5147 times:
I was able to see the contrails on a 757 once. I was in the last row on the right side and by looking back under the horizontal stabilizer I was just able to see the contrail off the right engine.
"I love mankind. It's people I can't stand." - Charles Shultz
Newark777 From United States of America, joined Dec 2004, 9348 posts, RR: 33 Reply 5, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 6 hours ago) and read 5147 times:
I remember sitting in the second to last row of a VS 747, I saw the beginnings of the contrails forming out my window. That was before my photo days, though, so I don't have any pictures myself.
HaveBlue From United States of America, joined Jan 2004, 2073 posts, RR: 1 Reply 6, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 4 hours ago) and read 5097 times:
Back in November myself and a buddy went to DAB to take his 152 up and do some air work. While we were preflighting I noticed a 737 at altitude pulling a pretty good turn, and the contrails this day weren't disappearing. I kept my eye on him and sure enough, he did a whole race track pattern with the contrail from before entry into it and the 'circle' all visible. I have never seen that before or since, and only wish that I had a camera with me that day to get a photo of it.
He was traveling north to south just off the coast before and after entering it.
AirWillie6475 From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 2448 posts, RR: 1 Reply 7, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 5016 times:
I was in the last row on the right side of a UA747 when I saw the contrails. In my condition the sky had multiple cloud layers and it was during sunrise.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 9, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 2 days 1 hour ago) and read 4947 times:
Quoting A346Dude (Reply 8): I'd be interested to know what sort of situation would require a holding pattern at cruise altitude.
I was inbound to Seattle and they got jammed up. Everyone was getting two or three turns ahead of us. They cleared me to hold at UBG. I could have descended but not very much. I elected to stay at 330. I also asked for a 30nm outbound leg, so I went only once around, and just turning outbound for the second orbit was cleared on up the road somewhere.
I wanted to stay high to maximize my available hold fuel. Holding down lower can burn a lot more and the plane I was flying had no troubles at all getting down so there was no disadvantage to staying high.
I don't recall if I had to hold again (don't think so) or got any significant delay vectors after that.
It was the only hold I can ever recall in the high altitude structure, but of course we sometimes get delay vectors or even reroutes up there. One day last summer I was in one of the western sectors of Chicago Center's airspace and heard them give someone inbound to ORD a heading of 240. That was directly away from his destination and he was about 300nm away at the time. Must have been an ugly day at O'Hare!
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
Modesto2 From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 2636 posts, RR: 6 Reply 10, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 4898 times:
I was looking out the window of the 5R door on a UA 744 while in-flight and could clearly see the contrail. At cruise altitude, just poke your head out (not literally!) and you should see it.
Oly720man From United Kingdom, joined May 2004, 6225 posts, RR: 11 Reply 13, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 19 hours ago) and read 4873 times:
Contrails can last for hours. Depends on sun, local humidity, temperature, wind, turbulence and probably other factors as well. Some trails go very slender and break up, others just spread out and almost turn into altostratus clouds.
BritPilot777 From United Kingdom, joined Apr 2004, 1075 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 4848 times:
I was at the back of a United 777, got to see the contrails quite easily. Awesome sight!!
DeltaGuy From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 15, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 4823 times:
I see em here all day in Jacksonville- we have the Craig (CRG) and Cecil (VQQ) VOR's, which is the main highway for most jets coming up from the south. On a real nice day, you may look up and see 5-6 contrails still left up there, all following about the same track.
A coupla years back, I was talking to my dad right before he took off from MCO, headed to JFK, in his Delta Express 732. He estimated his overhead time over CRG (my dorm roof had an excellent view of that part of the sky), and told us he was flying the PowerPuff girl painted aircraft, N310DA. Took my roomie's telescope out on the roof with us, and saw a contrail at about the time he quoted- not like it was a big telescope, but we could sure make out enough to know it was him Pretty neat.
Scbriml From United Kingdom, joined Jul 2003, 11445 posts, RR: 50 Reply 16, posted (8 years 2 months 1 week 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 4790 times:
We recently flew DXB-LHR on EK in a 773. We were in row 44 - I could only just see the wing tip out of the window, but I had a great view of our contrail. For some reason, my wife was considerably less excited about it than me!
113312 From United States of America, joined Apr 2005, 538 posts, RR: 1 Reply 21, posted (8 years 2 months 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 4242 times:
I have seen my own contrails, barely, a couple of times sitting in the rear of a B747 and a DC8-63. But, generally they come to be visible too far behind the aircraft. However, I often see them, or more correctly, an image of them from any seat, including the cockpit, when I am able to see the shadow of my planes and any trails on a cloud deck below!
On a related subject, how many of you have seen the shock waves formed above the wing of an airliner in flight? I regularly could visualize them back when Boeing 727s were common.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 22, posted (8 years 2 months 4 days 12 hours ago) and read 4246 times:
Quoting 113312 (Reply 21): On a related subject, how many of you have seen the shock waves formed above the wing of an airliner in flight? I regularly could visualize them back when Boeing 727s were common.
On Southwest's 737-300 I began to believe I could calibrate their mach meter from an overwing, down-sun seat. The earliest formation of them seemed to be around the sheet metal buttjoint on top the engine pylon. At highest mach they ran in multiple parallel lines on the outer part of the wing.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
TinPusher007 From United States of America, joined Feb 2005, 963 posts, RR: 2 Reply 24, posted (8 years 2 months 4 days 7 hours ago) and read 4191 times:
When I flew CDG-JFK many years ago in the very last row of an AF 744 I could see the contrail coming out of the number one engine. Looking through the window of the L5 door, I had a good view including the horizontal stabilizer.
"Flying isn't inherently dangerous...but very unforgiving of carelessness, incapacity or neglect."
25 moriarty: I googled and found this old thread. This week I was on a flight (A333) and could clearly see the exhaust from the engine outside the window forming t
26 woodreau: From the flight deck sometimes you can see if you are making a contrail. You can't see it directly instead if the sun is in the right position and you
27 DashTrash: I saw my wings making a contrail in the Citation X once. The shockwave was clearly visible just forward of the flaps with a little haze layer just beh
28 moriarty: I can imagine. Uploaded the vid I mentioned in case someone would be interested: http://youtu.be/jxZMRsz8ACk
29 SAAFNAV: SlamClick, great to see your posts again! Erich
30 26point2: Also very interesting to be following traffic 1000' or 2000' above and to see his wing tip vortex swirling within the contrail as it descends. I recal
31 DashTrash: That's an old theory. In the X they put the switch right next to the muffler valve selector but we didn't carry enough fluid to raise much alarm.
32 flightsimboy: Not as clear as in the video posted above, but you can see your own contrails being formed as in my flight with Etihad from Toronto to Abu Dhabi http:
33 9VSIO: I thought the same thing too! Until I saw it was from almost 8 years ago...
34 DocLightning: Depends on conditions. I was once sitting not far behind the wing on a HA A332 and saw the contrail starting to form about ~10m behind the engine exh
35 tb727: Shhhh! There will be a knock at your door any minute now... I've had conspiracy type people ask me about them before, it's fun to mess with them.
36 Starlionblue: Comes up rather frequently. In Sweden there was an article about a politician recently. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article15478012.ab. She was
37 SAAFNAV: Oh duh! I should have checked the date...
38 FighterPilot: There were a couple days I was working that it was -40C and colder out this winter and we were making contrails on the ground and right after takeoff.
39 georgiaame: A LONG time ago, we were returning from Copenhagen on an SAS 747-?, seated in steerage, just behind the engines. The contrail formed well before the t
40 LH707330: This February I was seated in rows 38 and 39 in A330-300s and saw the contrails forming forward of me by a few seats. We were south of Iceland heading
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