looking at high up airoplane ans strange effect

[bigflesh2005]

i wonder if you can help me? i am a regulary spotter of airplanes that go overhead of my house. they are very high up, usually about 60,000foot so thatt i can see the tacks coming out og the engines making water droplets into the atmosfere (contrains).

has any one seen the following? if the airoplane is going into high up cloud a little bit, i sometimes see an strange effect. the front of the plane is a line that seen to go strait ahead and cut through the high cloud. is this the microwave beem from the airoplanes radar or is it just a trick of the eye?

normally i dont see it, especially when its too cloudy, but wen i do its weird.

can anyone offer a light on this effect?

[Rainboe]

Bigflesh- if I can understand you correctly, I'd say the following:
Not 60,000'. More likely roundabout 35,000'.
Radar gives no visible effects ahead of the aircraft.
Most likely explanation is that the aeroplanes are above the cloud layer, and you are seeing the shadow of the contrails* cast ahead of the aeroplanes onto the top of a thin layer of cloud.

A lot of people here call these 'chemical trails'. Don't buy anything off them!

[TopBunk]

Rainboe

I think bigflesh has already been on the chemicals:)

[bigflesh2005]

thankyou for the replie to my thred rainbow. i have been having some thoughts which will lead me into another question about this because when i look out og my bedroom window at the aircrafts in the sky i am looking into the north and i think that the sunshine is normaly located in the north. so if the airplains anr going north then how can a north sun cast a shadow? cometimes the sun if in the west and again, how can it cast a shadow on the contrain? i have viewd this phoneominan for some time now. have always wondered becase the contrain normally goes on for waht seem miles and miles. roughy 40 miles or less. surley a shadow on the contrain cannot go this far?

are we sure its not a microwave fonominam from the onbord weather stations?

can we make a poll?

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

bigflesh.... your profile says you are in Sheffield so the "sunshin" cannot be from the north. If an aircraft is heading north from you it will throw a shadow towards the north because the sun is south of you..

If you can PLEASE check what you write we may all be able to understand what you mean. The second part of your last posting is a littl unclear!

[bigflesh2005]

ok heathrowdirator. i will assume its a shadow from the south then. many thans for evrybodys help on this qestion.

[PPRuNe Pop]

bigflesh.

What some people are trying to tell you is that your spelling is not easy to understand and, therefore, it is hard to answer your questions.

No-one is bothered by it but you do need to use the PPRuNe spellchecker. So..........as you write your next post if you look up to the right of this box you are wrting in you will see 'abc' with a tick under it. If you click that when you have finished typing you be able to be more or less make sense. IF it doesn't work follow the instructions to install it on your computer. It is all straightforward so don't get worried by it.

We want you to enjoy PPRuNe so just try it.

PPP

[treadigraph]

Looking at one of these vapour trail shadows right now, very beautiful sky with a very thin layer of cirro-stratus (I think!), through which I can see the trail clearly, and a lovely dark shadow on the layer - also a corona around the sun.