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Unusual vapor trails in the skies over Southern Colorado Monday morning baffled skyward-looking residents and little to no explanation has been provided by agencies in charge of monitoring airspace in the area.
Viewer-submitted photos show a bizarre looping type of contrail over Pueblo Monday morning. Meanwhile, U-turn contrails were visible for miles to thousands of residents across Southern Colorado as up to a dozen planes and contrails could be observed simultaneously across the sky. A spokesperson for the Colorado Springs airport said tower operators were not aware of any unusual activity. A Federal Aviation Administration representative also said the agency was unaware of anything out of the ordinary. NORAD also told News 5 that it was not monitoring anything unusual
The representative with the Colorado Springs Airport says the plane was not in contact with the control tower at the airport and was not in airport controlled air space. NORAD also said the plane was not associated with their operations.
Originally posted by isyeye
How could they be in a holding pattern if the plane was not in contact with the control tower?
Originally posted by isyeye
reply to post by diddy1234
The representative with the Colorado Springs Airport says the plane was not in contact with the control tower at the airport and was not in airport controlled air space. NORAD also said the plane was not associated with their operations.
How could they be in a holding pattern if the plane was not in contact with the control tower?
I have a general understanding of how contrails are formed, but this statement from the Colorodo Springs Airport doesn't make sense if you are correct about it being from a plane in a holding pattern.
Originally posted by Uncinus
He's flying a racetrack hold. The odd pattern is due to the racetrack hold being blown sideways by the wind. These holding patterns can be planes doing test flights or for practice. They can also happen to commercial airliners 100s of miles from their destination due to distant weather holds.
Here's an explanation of the racetrack shape:
contrailscience.com...
Here's a video showing lots of racetracks due to bad weather hundreds of miles away (several in the middle at 0:16 and then lots on the coast at 0:26, and at other spots)
Here's an example of a test plane making these
contrailscience.com...
Here's a simulator that shows how the patterns form with different wind speeds and directions
contrailscience.com...edit on 2-1-2012 by Uncinus because: typos
Originally posted by diddy1234
They look like the results of holding patterns for aircraft.
When an aircraft is held in a 'stack', the aircraft will fly an oval track in the sky but with each loop dropping in height.
Hence your picture shows multiple loops but each loop spaced between each other.
The trail shows up due to moisture in the air.
Nothing unusual here.
You can listen to ATC online and hear them being put into holding patterns.