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Every cloud

Head Rambles Posted on by

I have heard the theory a few times that aircraft are responsible for the change in weather patterns of the last decades.

Yet another conspiracy theory?

it’s not an easy theory to test as no one is going to stop all flights just to see if the weather changes.  Except that that has happened.  After the World Trade Centre attacks, all aircraft in the States were grounded for three days, and indeed there was an anomalous change in the weather cycle.

Depending on where you live, you may or may not be aware of aircraft.  I am not near any of the regular air corridors so aircraft are not that common in the skies here.  The lack of aircraft would tend to disprove the theory about aircraft forming clouds, but then that is only in my little neck of the woods, and clouds do have a habit of straying in from neighbouring areas.

I was idly messing around this morning when I went into one of my regular sites.  Flightradar24 gives a live image of aircraft in the air at any time.  It is an impressive site, as it gives details of all aircraft, such as type, call-sign, point of departure, destination and everything apart from what meal is being served.

I took a snapshot of the Atlantic –

aircraft
Click to embiggen.

Each of those little yellow/orange blips is an aircraft in the sky.

That is one hell of a lot of aircraft, and all of them creating contrails?

It would make you wonder if there is something to the theory after all?

 

Comments

Every cloud — 16 Comments

  1. Nah! GD its all the smokers Heh!

    Just goes to show you, ATC do a great job and The odd Hero Pilot too.

  2. Sweet Jesus!  Thanks, GD, for this post.

    I went  on the Interweb, and there was a blinking yellow plane over my strange little village of Silver City, New Mexico, USA.  (It is not New, and it is not Mexico!)    Anyway, I hustled outside to see the little fucker, and nothing was in sight.  Another Federal plot, says I.  So I dragged Miss Pat out to see.  "See what," she asks?  "To see a point in the sky where there should be a plane", says I.  A smack with a coffee cup at 8 AM is not a pretty picture.  Thanks, GD

    PS:   Some village nut case thinks the "comtrails", as he calls them, is the Feds putting dope into the air to keep the masses numb.  I tried to tell him that those things come out of planes at high attitudes where "contrails", not "comtrails".  He wasn't listening.  So, you folks across the Pond have no corner on conspiracy theories.  Nor nut cases.

    • Jayzus!  Don't blame me.  Blame Flight Radar. 

      I did read somewhere that they were supposed to be putting silver iodide in jet aircraft, but then if I remember correctly, I read it on a Merkan site which would explain it.

      And your friend is probably right!

  3. Great find that flight map, thanks! Not always accurate in the flight data end of things I see. I found one aircraft that took off from Middletown, NY which was obviously bound for Burlington, VT but the flight data said it took off from Hawaii and was bound for Long Beach, CA. Considering the aircraft was halfway up Lake Champlain (located at the western border of Vermont) and headed due north, I seriously doubt that.

    • Quite scary when yopu think about it.  Each one of those blips represents a hundred or more people sitting in a metal tube, thousands of feet in the air and defying gravity.

      • I've always been a bit nervy about flying, now I'm scared stiff. Sorry to harp on, but are you sure this still isn't part of a ploy to keep us immigrants away…..

        If it makes you feel any better, we've had so much rain over here it feels as if Gloucestershire might start to float. I hope it floats somewhere sunny, because I sure as hell won't be flying anywhere for a while!

  5. Flightradar24 is one of Himself's favourite sites.  He's always rushing outside to try and spot an aircraft that should be passing overhead, but they do get a bit muddled sometimes. We're still trying to work out the one flying from Paris to the USA!!  Seems a strange route?  He also follows planes carrying our visitors from the UK, he's stopped panicking when they disappear between Italy and here, up to now they've always turned up so there obviously isn't an 'Ionian Triangle' and it's only some sort of radar glitch.

    • I have had it bookmarked for a long time now.  I have heard of people who say it is more reliable for estimating arrival times than the airlines' websites!  Not that that would be hard…..

  6. At the time that volcano in Iceland blew its top, and air traffic was stopped for three days over Europe, there were pictures posted on the web showing clear skies over south England, and others showing the same  skies when flight traffic was heavy – the difference was amazing – so, yes, I'd assume that all those planes are having some (slight?) effect on weather

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