My meteorology professor at ERAU liked to call them “Cirrostratus Anthropogenicus.”
Contrails have jet exhaust in them, so mostly air with a bit less oxygen and a bit more CO2, some soot and hydrocarbon based nonsense.
The really stupid thing is “airplane engine exhaust contains chemicals that are harmful to people’s brains” is 100% verifiably true, it’s just not jet contrails. It’s small piston-powered planes that still run on leaded gasoline. The average student pilot flying a Cessna 172 is doing more to make the masses dumb than a 777 pilot hauling passengers.
Fortunately, a lot of light sport airplanes are able to run on unleaded automotive gasoline and there’s been a proposal to expand the light sport rule to increase what can be an LSA and what you can use an LSA for. For example, it’s currently illegal to use a light sport aircraft for aerial photography, because reasons. You have to use a Normal category airplane for that, which probably means a 1960’s technology engine and 1960’s technology fuel. But, we’re fixing it.
My meteorology professor at ERAU liked to call them “Cirrostratus Anthropogenicus.”
Contrails have jet exhaust in them, so mostly air with a bit less oxygen and a bit more CO2, some soot and hydrocarbon based nonsense.
The really stupid thing is “airplane engine exhaust contains chemicals that are harmful to people’s brains” is 100% verifiably true, it’s just not jet contrails. It’s small piston-powered planes that still run on leaded gasoline. The average student pilot flying a Cessna 172 is doing more to make the masses dumb than a 777 pilot hauling passengers.
Fortunately, a lot of light sport airplanes are able to run on unleaded automotive gasoline and there’s been a proposal to expand the light sport rule to increase what can be an LSA and what you can use an LSA for. For example, it’s currently illegal to use a light sport aircraft for aerial photography, because reasons. You have to use a Normal category airplane for that, which probably means a 1960’s technology engine and 1960’s technology fuel. But, we’re fixing it.