Contrails in mainstream

[NEOWatcher]

America Today has a story on contrails.
Are jet contrails part of secret government experiments? (http://www.wkyc.com/news/national/news_article.aspx?storyid=84418)(Story with video link)
It starts off rather woo (Expert meteorologist believes that...)

Scott Stevens is a former TV meteorologist from Idaho. He now lives in Fort Collins, and studying contrails has become his passion.

Scott Stevens says "I put cameras outside of my house in Idaho, and it was about 4 months after doing that, that I found one particular sortie of flights in the sky where the planes would leave a trail and what was curious was that other planes would come along and hit precisely over the debris or what was left over of the previous trail remnants."

Observers like Scott believe that government agencies are trying to modify the weather with these contrails.

But; does redeem itself.

[Trocisp]

I love (absolutely love) the chemtrails mythology.

It's like easter when I hear people spouting off about it. I always tell them I have the inside information, and it's the illumanti doing it. :D

[MeteorWayne]

Mr Stevens, doesn't appear to understand much about the atmosphere for a former meteorologist!!

[Fazor]

But it's sinister! Some airplanes leave trails, while others do not! Bwa-na-naaa!!!! (that was evil music to indicate an evil deed, a-la sitcom television).

I was unaware that having a degree (presumably) in meteorology gave one the requisit understanding of areonautical engineering to be an expert on contrails. But in his defense, he *did* study them by videotaping the sky for months on end (rather than studying jet engines and how they work). So I suppose he must know what he's talking about. :lol:

[Argos]

These contrail stories are the most stupid and boring things one can read about.

[Fazor]

Being trained in ohio law, and also certified through the ohio dept of insurance (and thus versed in insurance contracts), I whole-heartedly disagree.

That's not to say that these stories are interesting by any means, but there's worse reading out there.

[Mr Q]

The upper troposphere is a region of changing environment, such as moisture content, which determines if a contrail (water vapor in the engine's exhaust) will exist or not. Watch several high altitude jets and sometimes the contrail appears to be there and not. The air the jet passes through (its moisture content and other factors) determines wether a contrail will exist or not

As for those military conspiracy theories, I heard from several sources that the USAF was seeding the upper troposphere with aluminum powder mixed into the exhaust of its engines. This powder was used in a radio signal reflectivity test but ground tests of the aluminum fallout that resulted was scary. The size of the particles were small enough to be transfered from the lungs into the bloodstream, creating a serious health hazzard. But for the most part, contrails are not used in an evil, diabolical way by the military. Besides, would the U.S. military conduct such diabolical experiments on its own people? I don't want to know the answer to this question:think: Mr Q.

[NEOWatcher]

...As for those military conspiracy theories,... Besides, would the U.S. military conduct such diabolical experiments on its own people? I don't want to know the answer to this question:think: Mr Q.
I doubt they would, it would be too easy to verify.
As far as the aluminum... I see two things blowing my skeptic whistle.
1) The falling powder would mess up civilian radar. That would be hard to cover up.
2) If they did that kind of test, it would probably be done over water.

[MeteorWayne]

These contrail stories are the most stupid and boring things one can read about.

And the eternal fodder of Art Bell's legacy

[Mr Q]

NEOWatcher - From what I remember of the aluminum caper, it was over very sparsely land and I doubt any civilian radar would be operating in these remote areas. If so, I would think the powder would disperse enough so as not to interfere with normal radar operations as it fell from very high altitudes. The area "seeded" was quite large and very high and had something to do with HF propagation testing. In any event, who really knows what "we" are being tested on when it comes to the U.S. military/government. Mr Q

[Tedward]

Interesting. But I mean that in a curious about this trail theory. I wasn't aware of this before looking in on this and similar sites. I first came across contrails (not chemtrails) in accounts from World War Two bomber pilots. On of the things the crew most hated to see.

Also, would releasing the powder into the engine exhaust burn it up?

[sarongsong]

America Today...?...looked like a TV station's report, to me.

[NEOWatcher]

?...looked like a TV station's report, to me.
Now that you mention it... I've always assumed it was a reference to the Today show (it's an NBC affiliate). Now; I'm not so sure.

[Larry Jacks]

I heard from several sources that the USAF was seeding the upper troposphere with aluminum powder mixed into the exhaust of its engines.

I have heard of this but it seems unlikely to work. Radio frequency reflectors are normally sized based on the frequency they want to reflect. For example, chaff to reflect radar is normally a multiple of 1/4th the wavelength of the radar frequency. Likewise, the needles put into orbit for Project West Ford (http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=516) were 1.8 cm long, 1/2 the wavelength of an 8 GHz RF signal.

What's the frequency that corresponds to dust?