Topic: Stealth Contrails, wanna be Mammatus, Shelf, Kelvin-Helmoltz & Lenticulars

[Randall Kayfes]

The title says it all three stealth B2's in formation, wanna be Mammatus, wanna be Shelf, wanna be Kelvin-Helmoltz's and wanna be lenticular clouds all with a couple of week's time in Southern Arizona...

The stealth bomber contrail's



Broken Shelf Cloud



Kelvin-Helmoltz Clouds almost



Sloshy Lenticulars



Loose Mammatus'

[CW2274]

The B2's... Wish I had seen that! Nice find.

[Randall Kayfes]

Would have been awesome on your radar!

[CW2274]

Waaay above our purview here as they're within ABQ ARTCC airspace. Never would have saw them. Still, cool pic.

[vinceskahan]

Rarely, but every so often I'll catch one or a U2 or B1 - https://tar1090.adsbexchange.com/ - zoom out to the whole US and sort by speed or altitude or model.

[ocala]

Nice pics Randall. Post more.

[Randall Kayfes]

CW2274 good point. I am really curious how far up there they are. I am told they probably came out Iowa... BTW I noticed now that I am using altitude, we extremely closely matched in that reading every day.
Vince, as MSFS enthusiast I really like hearing from the real deals (CW2274) and your link to ADS-B is greatly appreciated.
Ocala, sorry for the very long absence but am at least partially back.

[CW2274]

I am really curious how far up there they are.

Tough to tell from the pic alone without reference, but I'd say FL350 or higher. Normal air-carrier airspace. The contrails help a bit as well.

[ocala]

I would say 35 is about right. I'll see those private aircraft at 40 plus and you you can just tell by the trail they are way up there. By the way I spend a lot of time watching the jets fly over. Even have a small ads-b antenna I plug into my phone. It's amazing that this little 5 inch antenna can pick up jets  over a hundred miles away in the Gulf.     

[Randall Kayfes]

Vince I have had soooo much fun with ADS-B Exchange since you posted that link... I have two regionals, one international, ands one AFAB very close to my house. Now I can actually identify and follow that traffic even after it disappears beyond my horizon. Example: I followed a Learjet come out of Texas take a hard right at Tucson and continue north beyond Utah. Finally with CW2274 and ocala as the go-to of wealth of aviation and weather knowledge they are willing to share - well what can I say other than, again, thank you all for sharing the knowledge and expertise.

[ocala]

There is an Android app called adsb flight tracker. It gets it's data from the adsb exchange site. Boat loads of option including a 3D viewer that's pretty cool. There is a learning curve but once you have it down it's fun.