Ghost plane

[sweetpea]

First comment by ND

Pilot here, and that is another airplane. We see this daily. It's great that you pay so much attention to your surroundings and notice details like this, though. Nevertheless, the object is indeed another airplane that had crossed the path of yours underneath and has consequently been cleared to climb to a higher level. The shape of the contrails is nothing out of the ordinary and indicates a medium sized airliner and the change of shape is due to the high relative velocity. Mind you, you are on a diverging course with the other aircraft and you're flying with an approximate speed of 850 km/h / 530 mph. The lack of other visual references to hold on to makes it hard to identify it as what it is. Later on in the video the other airplane seems to have been cleared to proceed in the same direction as yours which is why it stopped getting smaller. Up in the air, airplanes need to maintain specific separations as safety margins to fly the same routes (yes, we actually do have 'highways' in the sky) and that is most likely the reason why the other airplane first crossed your path and then flew parallel to you. In case you cannot make any sense of what you are looking at AT ALL: the dense dark cloud are the contrails (water vapour + exhaust gases) as you look at the other airplane from behind. You're looking at its tail as it flys away from you which is why the contrails look so dense. Then, as you pass the other airplane the contrails stretch out as your perspective changes rapidly (due to your high speed and the close proximity of the other airplane). One thing is remarkable though: the contrails are rather dark on this airplane. Normally, they are white for modern airliners and sometimes can appear darker compared to the background when they are in the shadow of other clouds. This one is very smokey. Probably an older aircraft which have less efficient combustion which leads to black smoke.

As usual in the spook/ufo section no personal comment required from me.

 

[RainbowSingularity]

First comment by ND


As usual in the spook/ufo section no personal comment required from me.

that auto focus and deliberate move of the cell phone to force the camera to re-focus is a bit crappy for modern technology.
that obvious near miss of a passenger plane should be reported to the aviation authority.
rediculousely close near miss...

 

[Michael 345]

obvious near miss of a passenge

No such animal as near miss

Pet bug bear of mine as a Safety Officer

Its a miss

At best a near collision

If you had to report a so called near miss with other cars on the way to work, care to estimate how many forms you would need?

Near collision would need investigation with both aircraft crews and any control tower instructions and what protocols / regulations cover the region

 

[sideshowbob]

No such animal as near miss

Pet bug bear of mine as a Safety Officer

Its a miss

At best a near collision

If you had to report a so called near miss with other cars on the way to work, care to estimate how many forms you would need?

Near collision would need investigation with both aircraft crews and any control tower instructions and what protocols / regulations cover the region

There's a difference between a near miss and a near collision. A near miss is when somebody wasn't using enough care and attention to avoid a near collision. A near collision is when they got lucky.

 

[billvon]

that obvious near miss of a passenger plane should be reported to the aviation authority. rediculousely close near miss...

?? Didn't seem that close to me. Standard vertical separation for IFR aircraft is 1000 feet altitude (500 feet for VFR). They weren't closer in altitude than 1000 feet.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

No such animal as near miss

Pet bug bear of mine as a Safety Officer

Its a miss

At best a near collision

If you had to report a so called near miss with other cars on the way to work, care to estimate how many forms you would need?

Near collision would need investigation with both aircraft crews and any control tower instructions and what protocols / regulations cover the region

My USN aviation friends called it "Near(ly Not A) Miss.)

 

[Michael 345]

My USN aviation friends called it "Near(ly Not A) Miss.)

Sounds better even though a bit of a mouthful

 

[DaveC426913]

No such animal as near miss

As opposed to a far miss.
The distinction is obvious enough that near miss has meaning.

 

[Michael 345]

As opposed to a far miss.
The distinction is obvious enough that near miss has meaning.

As paraphrased as a close call

 

[DaveC426913]

As paraphrased as a close call

Sure. That's another term. But it doesn't mean the term "near miss" doesn't have meaning.


Kind of like "rolling stop".

True, a rolling stop is not a stop. But a rolling stop is something; it's a near stop.

 

[Michael 345]

Sure. That's another term. But it doesn't mean the term "near miss" doesn't have meaning.


Kind of like "rolling stop".

True, a rolling stop is not a stop. But a rolling stop is something; it's a near stop.

I call a Humpty Dumpty tie

 

[DaveC426913]

I call a Humpty Dumpty tie

Well... the difference is...

Your assertion attempts to exclude other assertions, such as mine. My assertion is inclusive of yours.
So the only way you could be "right" is if you refute mine. Whereas, to be "right", I do not need to refute yours.

 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Sounds better even though a bit of a mouthful

A not-miss is referred to as a Fox-4.

The way they told me:

A kill with guns is a Fox-1
A kill with infrared missiles is a Fox-2
A kill with radar missiles is a Fox-3
And if you use your whole plane it's a Fox-4

 

[DaveC426913]

Prolly not a lot of self-reported Fox-4s then.