Airplane shows off its dazzling 'wingtip vortices'
By
Zachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 18, 2022 11:06 AM EST
|
Updated Apr 18, 2022 12:12 PM EST
A stunning video of an airplane taking off from the London-area Gatwick Airport shows a plane bursting through heavy fog, leaving an almost cartoonish gap in its wake as well as an impressive display of what are known as "wingtip vortices."
The plane, a British Airways Boeing 777, smashes through the low, dense fog and appears to carry the cloud with it, as the fog lingers above the cabin and the plane's wings. Behind the plane, a hole in the fog bank is clearly apparent, with the fog twisting and turning in the plane's wake as it is affected by the plane's naturally-generated wake turbulence.
The massive plane punches through the fog, leaving a temporary trail of clear skies in its wake.
(Newsflare)
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, wake turbulence is a byproduct of an aircraft producing lift. As the plane moves through the air, the shape of its wings, which create the pressure differential that allows for flight to occur, also results in the formation of two rotating vortices that trail behind the aircraft.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski explained that those trailing tube-like features are wingtip vortices, which are generated by the plane's natural wake turbulence.
"They are invisible most of the time, but when the air is moist, the low pressure created above the wing can cause moisture in the air to condense, form clouds and reveal the vortex tubes," Sosnowski said.
Even the space shuttle generates wake turbulence, which can be seen brilliantly from the landing of the last space shuttle mission.
Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) touches down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, early Thursday morning, July 21, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Overall, Atlantis spent 307 days in space and traveled nearly 126 million miles during its 33 flights. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The vortexlike structure can be seen clearly behind the massive shuttle, with two rotating columns of air clearly trailing behind the returning spaceship.
Wake turbulence can cause serious damage to planes, meaning that pilots must be careful when flying in another aircraft's wake, something that airports try to discourage by making sure planes have adequate space between takeoffs.
The weather in England sometimes makes for visually interesting, but sometimes dangerous, takeoffs and landings. This past February, hundreds of thousands of viewers tuned into a livestream of planes making scary landings in high winds at London's Heathrow Airport during a major windstorm.
For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
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News / Weather News
Airplane shows off its dazzling 'wingtip vortices'
By Zachary Rosenthal, AccuWeather staff writer
Published Apr 18, 2022 11:06 AM EST | Updated Apr 18, 2022 12:12 PM EST
A stunning video of an airplane taking off from the London-area Gatwick Airport shows a plane bursting through heavy fog, leaving an almost cartoonish gap in its wake as well as an impressive display of what are known as "wingtip vortices."
The plane, a British Airways Boeing 777, smashes through the low, dense fog and appears to carry the cloud with it, as the fog lingers above the cabin and the plane's wings. Behind the plane, a hole in the fog bank is clearly apparent, with the fog twisting and turning in the plane's wake as it is affected by the plane's naturally-generated wake turbulence.
The massive plane punches through the fog, leaving a temporary trail of clear skies in its wake.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration, wake turbulence is a byproduct of an aircraft producing lift. As the plane moves through the air, the shape of its wings, which create the pressure differential that allows for flight to occur, also results in the formation of two rotating vortices that trail behind the aircraft.
AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Alex Sosnowski explained that those trailing tube-like features are wingtip vortices, which are generated by the plane's natural wake turbulence.
"They are invisible most of the time, but when the air is moist, the low pressure created above the wing can cause moisture in the air to condense, form clouds and reveal the vortex tubes," Sosnowski said.
Even the space shuttle generates wake turbulence, which can be seen brilliantly from the landing of the last space shuttle mission.
Space shuttle Atlantis (STS-135) touches down at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), completing its 13-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and the final flight of the Space Shuttle Program, early Thursday morning, July 21, 2011, in Cape Canaveral, Fla. Overall, Atlantis spent 307 days in space and traveled nearly 126 million miles during its 33 flights. Atlantis, the fourth orbiter built, launched on its first mission on Oct. 3, 1985. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)
The vortexlike structure can be seen clearly behind the massive shuttle, with two rotating columns of air clearly trailing behind the returning spaceship.
Wake turbulence can cause serious damage to planes, meaning that pilots must be careful when flying in another aircraft's wake, something that airports try to discourage by making sure planes have adequate space between takeoffs.
The weather in England sometimes makes for visually interesting, but sometimes dangerous, takeoffs and landings. This past February, hundreds of thousands of viewers tuned into a livestream of planes making scary landings in high winds at London's Heathrow Airport during a major windstorm.
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For the latest weather news check back on AccuWeather.com. Watch the AccuWeather Network on DIRECTV, Frontier, Spectrum, fuboTV, Philo, and Verizon Fios. AccuWeather Now is now available on your preferred streaming platform.
Report a Typo