Smoke on the wing when a fighter jet do a thight turn

allarda · Post by **allarda** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:04 am

What is smoke on the wing when a fighter jet do a thight turn?

I see it few times in video or pictures but i was never able to know what it is.

Thank you

lilfssister · Post by **lilfssister** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:51 pm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wingtip_vortices maybe???

Colonel Sanders · Post by **Colonel Sanders** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 5:56 pm

It's not smoke, it's water vapour caused by the
decrease in pressure on the top of the very hard
working wing!

Think of it this way: why does your car have a
radiator cap? Well, you want higher than ambient
pressure in the radiator to increase the boiling
point of your radiator fluid.

If you decrease the pressure, what effect will
that have?

This is pretty neat, too:

allarda · Post by **allarda** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:07 pm

I talk about this "smoke" but I understand that it is vapour because it is a low pressure zone.

tiggermoth · Post by **tiggermoth** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 9:35 pm

Yup, like the others have said, the vapour is being create by the low pressure areas around the aircraft, and the "strongest" of all the low pressure areas occur near the wings. In the F/A-18 picture the Colonel posted, the low pressure area is right behind the shockwave being created by the jet going really fast, not because the wing is working real hard. As far as the actual "trails" coming from the wingtip, those are the core of the wingtip vortex. As you yank harder on the stick, you increase the angle of attack, the wing works harder, the wingtip vortex gets stronger, and the pressure in the core of the vortex drops enough to cool the air, and presto, the moisture in the air condenses enough to become visible as a thin trail behind the wingip.

It's not just jet fighters that can do it either......all it takes is for a wing to be working hard enough to get the vortex strong enough to cool the air to the point of condensing the moisture. Sometimes that "wing" that is working hard enough to create a tip trail is a "wing" that is spinning rapidly in a circle

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FlyGy · Post by **FlyGy** » Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:40 pm

And not only on planes.

Panama Jack · Post by **Panama Jack** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 12:40 am

slowstream · Post by **slowstream** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:03 am

Those are some great shots!

KT111 · Post by **KT111** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 8:57 am

Great thread, would read again. Seen a DHC5 do that on a humid day in CYFB during take off, the props had mad vapour trails coming off them.

allarda · Post by **allarda** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 10:42 am

Really nice picture

old_man · Post by **old_man** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:30 pm

Here is a good vid of it happening when it is really cold and it turns to ice.

http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l240/ ... 04-40C.mp4

allarda · Post by **allarda** » Mon Jun 11, 2012 2:49 pm

Wow really cool vid

Smoke on the wing when a fighter jet do a thight turn

Smoke on the wing when a fighter jet do a thight turn

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