Do-nut shaped contrails ....

[brockenspectre]

This evening, walking hound in SE London (underneath the exit from the Biggin stack) I was doing my usual sky-watch. It was a glorious evening, blue sky as the sun was setting, a few puffy white clouds... contrails... aircraft on approach to 27 at LHR, others overflying the UK waaaay up high and ... in between a couple of puffy clouds was a contrail that looked as if it had do-nuts hung on it.

Someone told me (either on proon or on Discovery!) that such a contrail is the mark of the Aurora, the USA's top secret next-generation stealth aircraft.

I have seen this contrail once before, during the last Iraqi conflict, but only once.

Am I lucky enough to have seen THE contrail of a stealthy a/c or is there another simple explanation?

:)

[BRL]

Hi Brock, did you get a picture of it at all?
If not, then would somebody link us to one, ta.... :)

[Anthony Carn]

Vapour from the engines forms the basic stuff of the contrail.

Wing vortices swirl this around in a roughly circular way, sometimes forming neat doughnuts. I suspect it requires certain conditions, probably a very stable atmosphere for one.

I've got a photo I took looking from below a series of them.

Once flew past a contrail which had formed into a pin sharp thin-walled, unbroken tube of considerable length (miles ?). I briefly found myself looking down the length of it ! Very spectacular ! Only seen that the once.

[brockenspectre]

BRL unfortunately I didn't get a pic - I usually only walk hound with my digi-cam for hound-snaps and that wouldn't have been any use. Have to say I regretted not having my regular zoom with me!

Anthony Carn this didn't look like a swirled contrail I have seen some odd shapes in the past but this really looked as if someone had threaded a contrail with do-nuts the same diameter of the contrail ...

P.S. you can tell I am hoping it could have been the "mark of stealth" can't you!! :E

[av8boy]

You saw Venus and Mars. That's all. If it were anything more, the government would obviously have told you about it. Your eyes were playing tricks on you. There is no secret government aircraft. If it were dangerous the government would have warned you. Nothing to see here. It is all under control. Move along. Return to your homes and put it out of your minds.

[ShyTorque]

This was probably caused by a misfire on number 3 cylinder of the port engine. Or perhaps John Prescott was flying after a heavy lunch.

Nothing to worry about and definitely NOT a chemtrail issue - Oops, quick, don't release that bit...darn, too late.

The government have noticed that people were yesterday looking at "that" contrail. They have just put forward a proposal to make it a criminal offence to look upwards. This was "buried" under the news that they will back GM crops once the house of Lords has been abolished. ;)

[aviate1138]

"There is no secret government aircraft. If it were dangerous the government would have warned you. Nothing to see here. It is all under control. Move along. Return to your homes and put it out of your minds."

Apply the Law of Ockham's Razor, also spelt Occam's, and what you get is a contrail. Eliminate the possibility of it being caused by the Wright Brothers Flyer at one extreme and a Government X-Files cover-up at the other and you have the possibility of it being an airliner making a contrail in a stable atmospheric situation.

QED

B J - Just a simple private pilot

[cwatters]

I've seen similar trails from passenger jets (too high to see what type). I wondered if they were flying through wave or something else that would cause linear variations in moisture?

[PPRuNe Radar]

Donut contrails from a Jaguar and a Harrier appear on this site ...

Donut Contrails (http://www.dreamlandresort.com/black_projects/donuts.htm)

Thought there are plenty out there who seem to think they are secret 'black' aircraft, UFOs, or American spaceships attempting to dominate the globe. These Chemtrailers have a lot to answer for :\

[GrantT]

Ahhhh Chemtrails! Run for your lives!!!

[gear down props forward]

24 July 2000, I was on a 737 jump seat when an oceanic bound 767, 15 miles ahead, was on same route, 40 knots faster (we were doing 420 knots true). Winds aloft were causing the contrail to parallel our route.

Yes, had only the digital camera at the time, so it is sort of limited in quality. Eventually, ATC cleared us direct Shannon and we _traversed_ the contrail at 35000! Light bumpiness, nothing out of the ordinary. Snapped the picture just before we entered it.

Click on this picture to view the "enhanced quality" zoomed-in version of it.

http://vei.twu.net/pics/39-pp.jpg (http://vei.twu.net/pics/39-zoom-pp.jpg)

The write-up about this picture is on my picture site, here (http://vei.twu.net/cgi-bin/viewer.shtml?39).

Enjoy,
Gear down props forward

[McCroskey]

The head of Lockheed Martin was last year quoted as saying the Aurora was actually the name given to the B2 bomber while in its development phase. Don't know what the name of there current developments are but have heard it runs on liquid methane and is very fast. If your sad, like me :8 , and have spent time in the middle of the Nevada desert near the infamous Area 51 Groom Lake research facility near the town of Rachel, you can from time to time see the nav lights of something going by the callsign "fastmover" moving very fast round the night sky.
You really do see some weird things out there.
Spooky :ooh: