Ken,
I believe that I also have seen this thing that you refer to as a
"wrinkle". It was my opinion that it only seems to visibly occur at
higher humidity levels. And that is the humidity in the air being
flashed to steam (visible) and following the high velocity and sweeping
path over the top of the aircraft's wing surface. A lab demonstration
is done in a wind tunnel with smoke. Even feeling that I knew what
caused it, I couldn't help but watch it as long as it lasted. Something
so sharp and well defined where you know in your gut that there is
nothing.
Rand E.
P.S. Thing back, every time that I have seen it has been while taking
off.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
Ken Norton wrote:
>
> Monday 1:30 pm, somewhere at 35,000 feet...
>
> I'm looking out the window of the Boeing 757 at a "wrinkle" in the air.
> Over the years I've seen it maybe a couple dozen times, but I finally grab
> the OM-2S and snap a picture. Sitting in my preferred window exit seat
> (more leg room), I notice this strange anomaly in the air. Is it a shock
> wave, or a "hole" in the air caused by the extreme rarification over the
> wing? Focusing on the anomaly I finally determine that it is approximately
> 5-6 feet (2 meters) outside of my window and moves back and forth with the
> slight variations in speed/movement of the jet. The strange "wavefront"
> even casts a shadow on the wing.
>
> I enjoy the challenge of identifying where I am at when flying. Iowa is
> easy to identify from the air with its contoured farmland and near-perfect
> 1-mile grid system of roads. Michigan is so unique in shape that you must
> marvel at the apparent humor of the creator in designing a mitten shaped
> landscape surrounded by water. New York, with the fingered-lakes region is
> cute from cruising altitude whereas Pennsylvania's repeating patterns of
> mountainous wrinkles leave little to identify just where you are at.
> Flying westward in the USA becomes more interesting than the middle and
> southern sections of the country as there are mountains visible for
> hundreds of miles in each direction. From the sky you are able to see
> erosion and Earth's reshaping on a grand scale. Nebraska's isolated
> reaches blend with Wyoming's landscape in such a way that the usual
> "boundries", although political and civil in nature show up from the air in
> subtle ways, are notibly missing. Somewhere a giant "bullseye" is visible,
> a vestage from a geologicaly active time when a "bubble" rose from beneath
> the surface and later retreated leaving a fresnel lens shaped structure
> behind.
>
> I'm distracted from reading my Tom Clancy book "Shadow Watch" with the
> Montana landscape stretching out before me. The barren landscape is
> interrupted with an east-west mountain range snowcapped and overlooking a
> hundred miles of dry riverbeds and scrub. Soon the spires of the Rockies
> become visible and in the distant haze the peaks of Glacier are visible.
> Looking downward, the landscape is resembling a sheet of aluminum foil that
> had been crumpled and then straightened back out. The thousands of ridges,
> hills and mountain are sometimes white topped, but the forests are not
> green from this altitude but some shade of deep burgandy.
>
> My mind drifts to the memories of hiking into these same mountains in the
> Bob Marshall Wilderness on a solo journey to discover a sunrise on some
> remote mountain lake--only to discover not only the beauty of nature, but
> the strength and willpower to overcome fear and deadly dehydration.
>
> As the flight passes over Idaho, and into Oregon, the valleys are covered
> by a cloud layer resembling a lake--A lake of clouds gently lapping against
> the shoreline of mountain ramparts. An occasional "island" of a mountain
> interrupts the mirage and makes you visualize a fishing boat floating in a
> cove next to the island. The false imagery gives way occasionally to your
> brain gently reminding you of the reality of the scene, but you desire to
> hold onto the dreamscape instead. Over eastern Oregon the cloud layer is
> moving to the west, flowing over and around mountains and hills. It now
> has all the appearance of a wild river flowing over boulders in its
> insistant march downhill. A roller, complete with "spray" appears, with
> eddies behind. The waves and breakers look frozen in time, with their
> movement measured in minutes and hours. As the flight continues west we
> fly past these frozen waves and I am transported into some virtual reality
> world where I view a rampaging river caught in a timewarp.
>
> Mount Rainier sticks above the landscape like some teenager's hideously
> ripe pimple and is the introduction to the Pacific Northwest. Mount Hood,
> perfectly shaped is contrasted with the ragged blown apartness of Mount
> Saint Helens. Miles of snowy landscape reflect where complete devestation
> occured not so many years ago. A mountain nearly disappeared in seconds.
>
> The rolling clouds seem to be funnelling down some canyon. The Columbia
> River Gorge soon becomes visible as the clouds wisp away in the warmer air.
> It seems as though the cloud cover that blankets the eastern half of
> Washington and Oregon is being drained down the Columbia. Whitecaps are
> visible from 10,000 feet and it is quite apparant that the gorge is being
> thrashed by some severe wind. Later in the evening I watch the news and
> the cold air WAS being funnelled down the gorge and winds were exceeding 80
> MPH some areas.
>
> In the rental car, two hours later, I am driving over the mountain pass by
> Mount Hood. Ignoring the warnings about having chains for the tires I am
> pleased that no appreciable snowfall has occured for several days leaving
> the road clear. Driving to the east, I suddenly encounter the cloud bank
> that I saw from the airplane. With the setting sun behind me and the road
> decending straight into the cloud bank, the car ahead of me was instantly
> swallowed up when driven into the wall of cloud. In the opposing lane a
> truck appeared out of nowhere. I am transfixed by the site of the sharp
> outline of trees and hills superimposed on the clouds. The snow and ice
> covered trees create a texture in the scene that resembled an ink drawing.
> All too soon I was swallowed by the cloud.
>
> I reach my destination just after dark. Flight delays prevented me from
> getting to the client's office in time that day, but I retired to my hotel
> room to reflect upon the blessings of the day.
>
> I am so thankful for sight and for the ability to enjoy visual blessings
> such as what I experienced. I pursued photography with fervency to be able
> to share moments like these with those who were not able to be there.
> Successfully bringing these moments to others has been more difficult as
> the photographs rarely bring the sounds, smells and raw emotions to others
> who haven't had similar experiences. An Ansel Adams print is usually
> nothing more than a postcard to those who haven't felt the exhileration of
> breathing the clean crisp mountain air, hearing an eagle, or listening to
> the distant roar of a waterfall. Not all wonders can be recreated by
> Disney and displayed in technicolor on IMAX. Did I take many photographs
> Monday? Does it matter? Are words enough?
>
> Can words ever be enough? Can pictures ever be enough? A picture may be
> "worth a thousand words" but maybe the thousand words are able to bring an
> additional emotional experience out that the mere visual image cannot.
> Successful photographs often tell a story--although usually not the true
> story. A photograph can present a framework for the mind to fill in the
> missing details. Like an old Alfred Hitchcock B&W movie, it isn't what is
> on the screen that scares you, but what isn't on the screen. We sometimes
> so desperately want our photographs to tell the whole story that we put too
> many facts into the picture which conflict with the mental image being
> generated by the viewer.
>
> Awaking this morning, I was greated by a snowy/icy landscape illuminated by
> the rising sun. The freezing fog during the night had covered everything
> with a purifying whiteness that erased the blemishes of human
> industrialization.
>
> Ken Norton
> Image66
>
> < This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
> < For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
> < Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >
|