airplane contrails-figuring distance traveled

Hello Ferris, and

You will need to know the plane's altitude, on a continuing basis.

That way you can calculate the answer, with the arc formed by the contrail, assuming the height of the plane remains constant.

Please note that under certain weather conditions, a contrail may be formed at ground level, and the plane might have landed when you saw the contrail formation cease.

Apart from that, helping to build a power plant is a responsible job, not one where mistakes should occur, and if your boss sees you once too often skygazing, you may well have plenty of time at home, without a job, with plenty of time to skywatch....

Yeah, I did not really think of that when I posted the question. If they were at a steady cruising altitude (i.e. a constant) 35000 ft or so, how would it be figured? I know the planes are flying over from farther away than our nearest airport (approx. 25 miles away)... So, I guess they are coming from, at the closest, 120-130 miles away from my location and flying down to the into Baja California (mexico, I am in San Diego, Ca USA). I am not too worried about the boss seeing me looking up at the sky at the contrails, most of the time I am in a 10-15 foot deep trench so I am not in easy eyesight - the job is in the early stages of coming out of the ground. But, yeah I do not make it a habit to woolgather while I look up at the heavens (at least at work)...

Suppose we reverse the question. How far can a pilot see ? When flying at 10 km altitude, which is typical for airliners, on a clear day the pilot should theoretically be able to see about 350 km all around. So when you watch a plane go horizon to horizon passing right over you, the plane must have covered 700 km while you were observing it. This would take about 45 minutes. Don't know if this has been of any use with regard to your question.

Yes it is, thank you very much for your insight...

I don't know the answer to your question.

Since you spend some time looking at the contrails, have you ever wondered why these "contrail" stay in the sky for hours, and spread out to cover the entire sky?

I believe these are "chemtrails". I have been watching for years, since I was a boy - I am 56 years old now. Back when I was a child, contrails lasted from a few minutes to 1/2 hour long. Today, most of these "trails" last 4 hours or ,more. Has the atmosphere changed that much? I wonder why this is happening.

Many people claim that the government is spraying their populations with disease, aluminum & other metals, viruses, etc. I don't know any of that!

I am however, pissed at the situation. About 4 years ago I went to work on a Saturday morning. I was working outside most of the time, so I could monitor the goings-on in the sky.The sky was blue all around the horizons. I saw a "trail" start at one horizon and travel to the other. Then I saw 2 other planes travel parallel to the original plane. After an hour, there were 12 "trails" in the sky. An hour later, those same trails had expanded to cover most of the sky. There were a few patches of blue, but essentially it was almost instantly a cloudy day. Now around noon I decided to drive to get some lunch. The sun was very bright (above the trails), but since the expanded trails created a "haze", the light coming from the sky increased its intensity to the point that it was impossible to look up. I have sunglasses, and it was still impossible to look p at the sky in any direction.

Does anyone else see what I see?

Anyone with ideas as to why?

Hello THEOILGUY55, and others interested.

Get yourself more info here:

http://www.bariumblues.com/chemtrails_dvd.htm

Years of careful research has gone into the DVD, which is available at nett cost, a very low price..

I found it a very interesting piece of a larger jigsaw puzzle.

Cheers....

You know, I have heard of these chem. trails as you call them. on different web sites. Never gave it too much thought though. The one thing that I can say is that the contrails seem to stay in the sky longer with a change in the barometer (at least it seems to me). A high pressure building up gives a shorter contrail than the lower pressure "system"(?) which seems to have the bigger longer, fatter lines crisscrossing the sky.

What would the purpose be for the aluminum? I know that it is said that aluminum in childrens booster shots causes BIG problems indeed. Ever wonder where the flouride in toothpaste comes from? Why is it that it is considered poisonous and that they have a poison warning on the tube? When on other forms of tooth paste there isn't a warning?

Back on the subject - remember right after 9/11 when ALL of the planes were grounded? There was a study that showed that the temperature was cooler because of the lack of contrails (something like 2 or 3 degrees) in the sky... Anything is possible (cue Twilight Zone music), could this help to attribute to "Global Warming?"

OK, ok I know that this thread is DEAD but I am just adding something that I saw the other day at work (again at the power plant) as an observation to this chemtrail comment. 4 times on wednesday, last week I looked up and saw the contrail of (presumably) a commercial airliner with a much smaller plane flying pretty much at the same altitude (again, presumably seeing as I am looking up at these vehicles) but a few miles behind the bigger plane. I found this to be peculiar because on ALL of the other days that I am seeing these planes flying over, I am seeing 1,2, or 3 contrails flying in the same direction, at the same time, the planes are all the same size (multiple streams coming together to make a big contrail) but they are spaced at "regular" intervals. These smaller planes were in pretty close to the bigger planes and each time these "pairs" flew over, they were spaced apart pretty much the same. Anything strange? To me, yes. Somebody else, I don't have the slightest idea. What I do know; though, is - I have not seen before or since. Like I said, it was very peculiar.

Also, on Thursday in the afternoon I happened to notice a contrail coming in (from the ocean) at an Incredible rate of speed, and then as it approached the coast it turned around and headed back out again. This happened 3 times. It was like a fighter jock was flying in towards the coast and made a u turn in order to fly back out to his ship or something. I have seen this many times in the past, but have never found anything about what it was that I had seen. Not much, but something.

I believe that the difference is simply one of altitude. Planes fly higher now than they did 15-20 yr ago. Then, the contrail would be water vapor and would dissipate quickly. Now, it is likely to be ice, and will stay there longer.

That's got my vote. Although I doooo like a good conspiracy theory. Perhaps it is high altitude aluminum and fluoride!

cr3

Google boeing 707, it was a very early jet passenger olane and the cruising altitude was up to 43,000 ft... I don't think they fly much higher these days... And that was in the mid fifties all the planes that I found ceiling heights for were in the mid to upper 30,000 feet range. Who knows? Maybe it has something to do with different engine design (now vs then), components or something like that. Bring on the conspiracy theories baby!