Comments on: Racetrack Contrails

By: JFDee

JFDee — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:13:11 +0000

Plus, you get a little more leg room than with, say, Air Namibia (according to the video) …

By: captfitch

captfitch — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:03:27 +0000

11000 is total cost- not per person cost. pretty reasonable for that aircraft really

By: Alexey

Alexey — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:52:52 +0000

No, it belongs to a company that does VIP charters for about 11 000$ per hour (per person?).
You can check this on their website: http://www.comluxaviation.com/.

There is a video of this particular type of aircraft: http://www.comluxaviation.com/en/168-comlux-a318-elite.html

By: Uncinus

Uncinus — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:30:47 +0000

Is that a luxury jet in that it would be owned privately? Like by a billionaire?

By: Alexey

Alexey — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:08:33 +0000

I got new evidence for probable causes of large racetrack contrails here in the UK similar to those seen in the above satellite images. Watching today our “local” air traffic at http://www.flightradar24.com, I’ve spotted one plane flying large racetrack-like rounds north of Cambridge:
[img]http://contrailscience.com/wp-content/uploads/Screen shot 2011-07-04 at 13.47.51.png[/img]

According to the info on aviation message boards, the aircraft in question, a luxury Airbus A318-112(CJ) Elite; 9H-AFT, is undergoing installation of additional fuel tanks at Marshall Aerospace that owns our local airport. Apparently, it has been a test flight during which the aircraft has climbed up to 41 000 ft at the end of the second round before descending and returning back to the airport.

Unfortunately, because of a lot of clouds in that part of the sky, I couldn’t visually follow the plane or its trail during the flight, but eventually I have spotted it just before landing:

[img]http://contrailscience.com/wp-content/uploads/P1050365.JPG[/img]