Contrail spotting April 2007

Planespotting in the upper atmosphere! All pictures, reports or whatever question about upper level traffic come here

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Skystef
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Contrail spotting April 2007

Post by Skystef »

All (pictorial) reports + discussions of this month are welcomed below.

tangolima
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Post by tangolima »

Hello,

Seen above Ghent:

-Virgin Atlantic A340
-British Airways B737
-Lufthansa A340,B747-400
-ThompsonFLY B767 G-OBYE
-Air Portugal A319 or A320
-Easy Jet B737
-Transavia B737-800
-Air India B747-400

Greetings,
Kristof

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contrailwatcherUK
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Post by contrailwatcherUK »

Hey Skystef,
STUNNING pics!! unfortunately I havent got any pictures to share as the weather isnt too good and most planes are flying different NATs so the amount of overhead traffic is also poor.
Maybe you could give us some tips of how you are taking your photos?
I guess youve got your telescope out :wink:

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

Ok thanks ContrailsUK, I do my best by "try and error".

As told in another topic I use a telescope on which I put my digi cam directly into the eyepiece holder without the eyepiece itself. Only a T-ring is used (for each camera different), no camera adapter (for conversion to 1,25" - 2"), otherwise I can't get the right focus on distant objects. The pics self are made with mode M (manual), I try to shoot with shutterspeeds between 1/800-1/2000. So when light circumstances deteriorate, I switch to an higer ISO. Normally I use 100, but this may go up to towards the evening 400. My prefer upper route is UL608. All westbound traffic on my northside, so sunshine nice on the fuselage. I underexpose these shots with a couple of stops. UL607, my eastbound traffic lies to my south, so the sun is at a bad angle, therefore I take seldom a picture, except when a special plane (like the A380) takes that path. I overexpose these shots a couple of stops. Furthermore the path of southbound (UN872-UZ709-UZ703-UZ707)traffic is also quite near, so when light is OK I shoot them as well.

Last 2 weeks lot's of hazy skies (due to smog of the industrie at the Ruhr), so no joy to take good pictures. But today, there seems to be better conditions on the way (winds from north), but the low and later high clouds were till noon quite numerous, so still waiting.

Traffic is quite jolly overhere, on April 1 a 707-100 of John Travolta was on UL607. Furthermore last couple of weeks a lot of old tankers, Globemasters, etc of the USAF are crossing Belgian skies, and almost daily an An124 of Polet passes by.

Please post also some pics of yours ContrailsUK.

dre
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Post by dre »

did you know that turboprops like ATR 72 could leave long contrails behind?

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

dre wrote:did you know that turboprops like ATR 72 could leave long contrails behind?
Indeed, but it is quite rare as turboprops are cruising relative low, so not cold enough. However, I saw it recently twice with a Piper of... "Cirrus Aviation".

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fokker_f27
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Post by fokker_f27 »

About the John Travolta 707: I think it was headed towards Basel. Someone on the Flighsimworld forums (used to be fs2004.com) managed to spot it while landing there, also on the first of April: http://www.flightsimworld.com/forums/in ... pic=111105
The most sexy girl in the sky: The Sud-Est Caravelle 12.

dre
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Post by dre »

depends on what routes, we cruise more or less between FL 210 and 250.
Two weeks ago i saw minus 54 degrees outside...


Greetz

Dre

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Avro
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Post by Avro »

fokker_f27 wrote:About the John Travolta 707: I think it was headed towards Basel. Someone on the Flighsimworld forums (used to be fs2004.com) managed to spot it while landing there, also on the first of April: http://www.flightsimworld.com/forums/in ... pic=111105
That's right. John Travolta is currently on promotional tour in Europe for his new movie. He therefore uses his B707. A few days ago he was in London, then on saturday he headed for Freiburg in Germany ( for the "Wetten Dass..." TV show) and then further on to Basel.

Chris

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contrailwatcherUK
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Post by contrailwatcherUK »

You seem to live under very busy flight paths or airways. I on the otherhand only live under 2 airways which are UM140 and UN20. These are not very busy. It only depends on whether ATC direct the aircraft overhead on UN20 whether I get good photos as the sun doesnt shine on planes cruising on that airway. UN20 carries about 10-25 aircraft per day. UM140 is nicely placed for me, and planes get a great deal of sunshine on them. UM140 carries only around 1-10 aircraft per day. Below are some examples of planes cruising on the airways:
UAE205, slightly offset UN20 airway (thanks to ATC)
Image
GTI8838 on UN20
Image

ETH502, on UM140 (heading for BRU, also noticed an MEA now operates a route to/from america)
Image

And of course, the air force just do what they want :lol:
Image
As you can see, the sunlight is very important if you want to take good photos.
:) I am visiting wales soon, so I will have a great view on the UL9 and UL607 airways, which are very busy.

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

contrailwatcherUK wrote:You seem to live under very busy flight paths or airways.

That is correct, I guess on each UL607 or UL 608 we're talking about hundreds of aircraft every day. Also on the north-south bound it must exceed the mark of 100.

Checked my logs again, the B707 of John Travolta crossed Belgian skies around 1800LT and this on Saturday March 31, so it was enroute England-Germany.

Some new pictures: this period of the year, heat waves (radiation) becomes a major problem for making descent tele shots, only the early morning or late evening are OK.

April 4.

UL607: Kuwait Airways A340-300 9K-ANB cruising at 36000 ft enroute Kuwait-Heathrow as KAC103.
Image

UZ703: Air France A320 F-GJVG cruising at 35000 ft enroute Copenhagen-Paris (CGD) as AFR1051
Image


April 5.

UL607: Singapore Airlines Cargo B747-400F 9V-SFD cruising at 36000 ft enroute Dubai-Heathrow as SQC7396.
Image

UL607: Lufthansa A340-600 D-AIHQ crusing at 32000 ft enroute Munich-San Francisco as DLH458.
Image

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contrailwatcherUK
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Post by contrailwatcherUK »

The weather conditions are very poor here too. When the weather gets like this contrails seem to linger in the sky for ages making it hard to get clear shots. Bring back the crisp winter skies!
PH-MCT on 4th April:
Image

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

contrailwatcherUK wrote:The weather conditions are very poor here too. When the weather gets like this contrails seem to linger in the sky for ages making it hard to get clear shots
Between 10am & 18pm radiation is my devil, don't know if circumstances are better over the sea.

Anyhow, the evening or morning give still some opportunities.

April 6.

UL608: Malev B767-200 HA-LHA cruising at 34000 ft enroute Budapest-Toronto as MAH096.
Image

UL608: Onur Air A300-600 TC-OAB cruising at 34000 ft enroute Antalya-Gatwick as OHY615.
Image


April 7

UL608: Onur Air A321 TC-OAL crusing at 32000 ft enroute Bodrum-Gatwick as OHY2537.
Image


UL607: Singapore Airlines B747-400 9V-SMY cruising at 30000 ft enroute Heathrow-Singapore as SIA319.
Image


April 8

UL607: a contrailing An124 remains a rare sight, this time Volga-Dnepr Airlines RA-82047 at 33000 ft cruising east as VDA7321.
Image
Last edited by Skystef on 11 Apr 2007, 17:04, edited 1 time in total.

rut-her
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Post by rut-her »

These pics are really great! It's amazing how good you can make pics of the planes at FL350 or higher!!
But I was wondering, how do you guys know the flightnumber and altitude of all the planes passing by?

Greetz,
Rutger

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

rut-her wrote:These pics are really great! It's amazing how good you can make pics of the planes at FL350 or higher!!.
Well some of these shots were taken at a distance of 40km, so not a chance with heat waves.

rut-her wrote: But I was wondering, how do you guys know the flightnumber and altitude of all the planes passing by?
http://www.openatc.com/

or via SBS logs of Yahoo mailing lists.

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a380man
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Post by a380man »

I saw the AN124!I like the light on the Singapore 744!:)

Glider
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Post by Glider »

Maybe it has been discussed some times before, but could you guys tell me what equipment you use to tackle those high-flying beauties?

I really love contrail-pics, so keep posting them, please...

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

Glider wrote:Maybe it has been discussed some times before, but could you guys tell me what equipment you use to tackle those high-flying beauties?
Both Contrailwatcher and me are using a reflector telescope of around 1200 mm focal length. With the crop factor x1,6 of Canon this even gives 1800 mm on the pictures.

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contrailwatcherUK
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Post by contrailwatcherUK »

Skystef, I saw an AN124 heading west, but it was on April 9th lol. Unfortunately my telescope is broken so no shots for a while, but it is being repaired and I will be able to pick it up tomorrow!

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Skystef
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Post by Skystef »

contrailwatcherUK wrote:Unfortunately my telescope is broken so no shots for a while
Hope nothing serious. Was it the collimation thing ? This can be done easy by yourself.

Meanwhile overhere summer weather but no joy for pictures due to a combi of poor vis (smog), heat waves or just thick high cloudiness.

Anyhow, when outside today to do the collimation thing, I noticed the sole B747 of TNT on UL608. At some distance and quite low (16000 ft), with of course no contrail, it was presumable on an empty ferry between Liège - Filton.

Throughout the blurry atmosphere, this was the best I could make of this Jumbo.

April 14
UL608 @ 1550LT: OO-THA as TAY900E.
Image

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