Strange contrail..or trick of the light?
 

Now then

Apologies if this belongs in JetBlast or some other category but a friend has sent me this intriguing picture he took on Tuesday whilst he was out walking in the Yorkshire Dales, he wondered if I could identify what's going on seeing as I'm interested in all things aeronautical.

Hsi exact words were :"Walking around Langcliffe there was a jet overhead, it seemed to be tracking a black line, but looking closely the black line was coming from the sky down to the ground. I thought an aircraft part might of come off the jet or something, any ideas? "

There's the main white contrail running down the centre of the picture, then there's the other darker one running diagonal. If you look closely you will see the darker one is under the clouds and drops straight down into the valley and appears to plough straight into the ground! The only thing I could think of is the 'main' contrail is causing a shadow in the air but sounds a bit far fetched! What do you folks reckon?


http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y27...psea11f6f7.jpg

From 'not above 1500ft' - I'd Have to say - Yes.

Without the photograph, I would say that the cause is likely to have been one pint of Thwaites too many at the "Craven Heifer" from just up the road. With the photograph I would say one pint of Thwaites too many at the.......

Strange place is Ribblesdale!

W.

PS. There used to be a WW2 rifle range about a mile SE of where the photograph was taken although I doubt that the two are connected.

Maybe there is a high altitude plane (or satellite) moving from left to right that has launched 2 missiles at a low level drone flying over a rifle range.

Obvious 'innit...and they missed.

That's a 24SAS HALO trail :\

The shadow of the contrail - see it regularly. After the third G&T I see more than one shadow.

Agreed with 5aday. Seen it plenty of times. You may also see contrail shadows cast on to lower layer cloud. Seems a bit odd first time you see it.

Thanks all. Airborne's explanation is possibly the most exciting, especially if combined with cattletruck's. HA(V)LO drop whilst being chased by missiles fired from a satellite.

Believe it or not you can get some pretty good answers (among the chaf) in JB on stuff like this.

Looks to me like two different altitudes and different contrail dispersion patterns meaning two planes.

Course I don't spend much time looking at contrails except when I'm prone after a beer or two.

Cracking picture, I bet not even Turner could paint contrails like that in his clouds.

Mortar fire from a single point? The other two have dispersed while the third, or darker one is still fresh....

AHA!

Contrails, Dark Lines, Black Beams, & "Chemtrails" - Contrail Science » Contrail Science

You're seeing the shadow of that trail becuse you are looking directly through it - in other words, you are in its shadow. Quite often see that.

A pertinent question (I think!).

What time of day was the photo taken?

They were taken around 11 am

I saw an interesting contrail where it looked like the right contrail was black. The sun was setting and I think the black contrail was in the plane's shadow.

My guess is that the photograph was taken at OS map reference 831662 looking towards Upper Winskill farm with Sulber in the background.

(Sad or what)?

With a name like Wensleydale it would be sad if you didn't know. ;)
Contrails to worry the Chemtrailers:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...t/P1010934.jpg
All the above cloud has been formed by dissipating contrails. The photo was taken by myself looking West from Hartshead Pike.

I believe you are spot on Wensleydale!