[TigersEye]

The video zoomed in on it. I’ve actually used a 70 power telescope to watch airplanes create contrails. Sometimes they appear pretty close to the plane, and sometimes they don’t start until a ways behind the plane.

But there is always a gap, even if only a few tens of feet behind the plane, before the exhaust condenses water vapor in the air. And there are always separate trails from each jet engine for a distance before they merge into one. Nowhere in this film, even when zoomed, is there a gap between the vehicle and the contrail or separate trails from multiple engines. The contrail immediately billows from the vehicle instead of gradually dispersing as a vapor trail does. It looks nearly identical to the contrail of a shuttle launch.

[RobRoy]

>>But there is always a gap, even if only a few tens of feet behind the plane, before the exhaust condenses water vapor in the air.<<

Yep. But it is not apparent when the plane is coming at you. Just as you don’t see the gap between a car and a trailer when it is coming at you.

If a lot of people will just humor me and watch the video with the mental assumption that it is a plane headed generally east, a lot of things clear up very well.