Contrails

During landing of an aircraft a kind of contrail often occurs behind the wing or at prominent parts of it in humid air. It is caused by the low pressure that occurs at the edges of the wings or the flaps. Due to the immense acceleration the air is expanded (and consequently cooled) so much that condensation and growth occurs at aerosol particles. Or already existing droplets will grow until they become visible. Since this growth occurs in milliseconds, one can notice the "contrails" right above the wing or directly behind.

Arrival.jpg: S. Borrmann, Berlin-Tegel, Germany, 21 April 2004, 4:10 p.m.

WingContrail1.jpg, WingContrail2.jpg: S. Borrmann, flight from Stockholm to Kiruna, Sweden, 9 March 2003

WingContrail3.jpg: S. Borrmann, flight from Frankfurt to Sao Paulo and Arrival in Sao Paolo, 17/18 February 2004,
7:07 a.m. local time

Camera Parameters

Olympus E-1 SLR with 14-54 mm objective. Exposure and Selectivity choice was performed by the program automation of the camera.