We had some pretty mixed weather during the course of RIAT this year. There was plenty of sun but also some rain. Even when it was dry, the humidity levels were pretty high and this meant that anyone wanting to get some vapour shots was going to have plenty of options. For the turboprop powered aircraft, when they were putting on the power, it meant that their props were pulling tip vortices. Here is a selection of shots of different planes extracting water from the air during their take offs.
If you want to get some nice vapor from an aircraft, start with a good, humid day. The hours after a storm are perfect since there is plenty of moisture in the air and the ground is wet meaning it will keep feeding the moisture for a while. Now you just need a big jet to climb out at high power settings. Enter an ANA 777-300ER stage left.
The engines were filling with inlet vapor as the beast hauled itself into the sky and the tip vortices were also doing their bit to pull the water from the air. The fact is was late afternoon so the sun was in a good position too meant that the combination was pretty ideal. We got a few like this for a while but eventually the humidity levels dropped and things returned to normal. Still, it was good for a while and there were other benefits to come.
