{"id":26150211,"date":"2026-10-02T13:18:42","date_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:18:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/vapor-cone-explained-white-cloud-not-sound-barrier\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T11:19:08","slug":"vapor-cone-explained-white-cloud-not-sound-barrier","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/vapor-cone-explained-white-cloud-not-sound-barrier\/","title":{"rendered":"Vapor Cone Explained: Why the White Cloud Is Not the Sound Barrier"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\r\n\r\n<style>\r\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid 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The nose and canopy were clear. The rest of the jet seemed to be bursting out of a solid disc of fog.<\/p>\r\n<p>The Navy released the frame with a caption saying the Hornet &ldquo;breaks the sound barrier.&rdquo; It went on to win a World Press Photo prize, and in 2007 NASA&rsquo;s Astronomy Picture of the Day ran it under the title &ldquo;A Sonic Boom.&rdquo; Twenty-seven years later, that is still how pictures like it are usually read.<\/p>\r\n<p>The cloud is real; the caption&rsquo;s certainty is the problem. A vapor cone (also spelled vapour cone, and nicknamed shock collar or shock egg) is weather made by the airplane: humid air that is stretched, chilled into droplets and then evaporated again by a shock wave as the jet slides through it. It can form below Mach 1, and its sharp back edge shows that some of the air around the jet went supersonic. It does not show that the jet itself did.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f4f6f9;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:18px 22px;margin:28px 0;font-size:15px;line-height:1.75\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;color:#0d1117;font-size:17px\">Quick Facts<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>What it is<\/strong> &mdash; Condensation in humid air that a fast jet expands and chills; a shock wave evaporates it again<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>Other names<\/strong> &mdash; Vapour cone, shock collar, shock egg<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>Speed<\/strong> &mdash; Transonic: NASA photographed one on an F-14A in level flight at Mach 0.9<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>Famous photo<\/strong> &mdash; F\/A-18C Hornet of VFA-151 off Pusan, South Korea, 7 July 1999, by Ensign John Gay<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>Award<\/strong> &mdash; First prize, science and technology, World Press Photo 2000<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>Common myth<\/strong> &mdash; Proof of breaking the sound barrier, or of the Prandtl-Glauert singularity<\/p><p style=\"margin:5px 0\"><strong>Best conditions<\/strong> &mdash; Humid air, such as moist maritime air over the sea<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The 1999 Photo Everyone Calls the Sound Barrier<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Hornet belonged to Strike Fighter Squadron 151 (VFA-151), the Vigilantes, embarked on Constellation, and the Navy&rsquo;s caption puts it over the sea off Pusan, South Korea. The carrier had left San Diego on 18 June 1999 for the Korean Peninsula, before moving on to the Persian Gulf in late August. As a U.S. Navy image, photo 990707-N-6483G-001 is in the public domain.<\/p>\r\n<p>It took first prize for science and technology in the 2000 World Press Photo contest, credited to John Gay, U.S. Navy\/Sports Illustrated, and shot, the contest archive notes, from &ldquo;the highest vantage point on the ship.&rdquo; NASA&rsquo;s 2007 write-up called the cloud&rsquo;s origin &ldquo;still debated&rdquo; and offered &ldquo;a leading theory&rdquo; built on something called the Prandtl-Glauert singularity. Hold that thought.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/fa-18c-hornet-vapor-cone-1999-uss-constellation-john-gay.jpg\" alt=\"US Navy F\/A-18C Hornet emerging from a bell-shaped vapor cone over the sea, photographed by Ensign John Gay in 1999\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Ensign John Gay&rsquo;s photo of a VFA-151 F\/A-18C Hornet off Pusan, South Korea, on 7 July 1999, winner of first prize for science and technology at World Press Photo 2000. Note the smaller cloud over the canopy. Photo: U.S. Navy \/ Ens. John Gay (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>So was the Hornet supersonic? No speed for that pass appears in the Navy caption, the contest entry or NASA&rsquo;s write-up, and the cloud cannot settle it. NASA Langley&rsquo;s 1994 study of in-flight condensation, &ldquo;Patterns in the Sky,&rdquo; shows in its front pages an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-14-tomcat\/\">F-14A Tomcat<\/a> wrapped in cloud as it &ldquo;passes through speed of sound near carrier.&rdquo; Later in the report, a second F-14A photo shows the same kind of cone in level flight at Mach 0.9.<\/p>\r\n<p>Same jet type, same cloud, two speeds. Official captions waver too. On 22 June 2009 the Navy captioned one photo of an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-22-raptor\/\">F-22 Raptor<\/a> crossing USS John C. Stennis in the Gulf of Alaska as a &ldquo;supersonic flyby,&rdquo; and another frame from that day as a &ldquo;transonic flyby.&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/f-22-raptor-vapor-cone-uss-john-c-stennis-2009.jpg\" alt=\"F-22 Raptor seen from below inside a flat disc of vapor, trailing two white vortex lines\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">An F-22 Raptor over USS John C. Stennis in the Gulf of Alaska during Northern Edge 2009, on 22 June 2009. The Navy captioned this frame a &ldquo;supersonic flyby&rdquo;; another frame from that day calls it &ldquo;transonic.&rdquo; Photo: U.S. Navy \/ STS1 Ronald Dejarnett (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Weather Made by an Airplane<\/h2>\r\n<p>Air flowing around a fast jet speeds up over the canopy and the wings, and where it speeds up, its pressure and temperature fall. NASA&rsquo;s report spells out the chain: once the local temperature drops to the dew point, &ldquo;the water vapor can begin to condense and become visible.&rdquo; When the flow slows and compresses again, the droplets &ldquo;evaporate, or vaporize, and are no longer visible.&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n<p>Temperature is the real trigger. NASA&rsquo;s analysis found relative humidity &ldquo;more sensitive to temperature changes than to the changes in pressure,&rdquo; which is why the effect needs air that is already humid. Seeds matter as well: Chris Combs, a high-speed aerodynamicist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, notes that droplets need particles such as dust, pollution or smoke to start forming.<\/p>\r\n<p>Then comes the trick that makes a cone. NASA&rsquo;s Glenn Research Center puts it plainly: &ldquo;While the aircraft itself may be traveling less than the speed of sound, the air going around the aircraft exceeds the speed of sound at some locations on the aircraft.&rdquo; Those supersonic pockets end in a shock wave, across which pressure and temperature jump &ldquo;almost instantaneously.&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The free-stream flow accelerates to supersonic speeds above and below the wing; this causes the flow to condense in an almost straight line in the expansion waves in the front portion of the condensation pattern. The aft end of the pattern is created by a shock wave through which the flow is decelerated to subsonic speeds aft of the airplane.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>James F. Campbell and Joseph R. Chambers<\/strong> &mdash; Aeronautical engineers, NASA Langley Research Center, describing an F-14A at Mach 0.9 (Patterns in the Sky, NASA SP-514, 1994)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>That shock is the cone&rsquo;s back wall. Combs points out that a shock wave is only on the order of 100 nanometers thick and creates &ldquo;a temperature jump that VAPORIZES water.&rdquo; The droplets vanish along one razor-thin surface, which is why the rear of a vapor cone looks as if it was cut with a knife. The smaller puff over the 1999 Hornet&rsquo;s canopy is the same effect in miniature, where the air expands over the cockpit.<\/p>\r\n<p>The shape even carries a speed clue. Comparing an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-4-phantom-ii\/\">F-4J<\/a> with an F\/A-18, NASA&rsquo;s authors noted that the Hornet&rsquo;s shock &ldquo;slopes forward, which is indicative of a lower subsonic Mach number&rdquo; than the F-4&rsquo;s. And if a cone flickers on and off during a pass, Combs blames patchy humidity, not a pilot repeatedly &ldquo;breaking the sound barrier&rdquo; (which, he adds, &ldquo;isn&rsquo;t a thing&rdquo;).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uO4FckCAZtU\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">Real Engineering explains why the cloud around a fast jet is condensation rather than a visible shock wave.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Singularity That Never Was<\/h2>\r\n<p>That &ldquo;leading theory&rdquo; goes back to the 1920s, when Ludwig Prandtl and Hermann Glauert gave engineers a shortcut for compressibility: take pressures worked out for slow, incompressible flow and divide them by the square root of one minus the Mach number squared. At Mach 0.5 that inflates them by about 15 percent, and at Mach 0.9 it more than doubles them. At Mach 1 you divide by zero, and the formula predicts infinite pressure.<\/p>\r\n<p>That infinity is the Prandtl-Glauert singularity, and it belongs to the math, not the air. The rule comes from a linearized theory that assumes small disturbances and no shock waves, so it works up to about Mach 0.7 and fails exactly where transonic flow begins. Near Mach 1, real pressure disturbances grow sharply but stay finite.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"max-width:550px;margin:0 auto 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?id=1300787794793713664&theme=light\" style=\"width:100%;height:560px;border:none;overflow:hidden\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 auto 28px;font-style:italic\">Aerodynamicist Chris Combs opens his 2020 thread on what vapor cones really are.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Combs took the idea apart in that 2020 thread, which is still pinned to his X profile. He called vapor cones the biggest point of confusion among aviation fans online, and he found just one online resource that explained them properly: NASA&rsquo;s 1994 report. Wikipedia&rsquo;s own article now calls the singularity a construct &ldquo;often incorrectly used to explain vapor cones in transonic flows.&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n<p>Why did the myth stick? Wikipedia ties it to the early-20th-century belief that the sound barrier could not be crossed. NASA&rsquo;s Glenn Research Center is blunter: &ldquo;the sound barrier was only an increase in the drag near sonic conditions because of compressibility effects.&rdquo; A formula that blows up at Mach 1 fits the old wall story perfectly; the cloud does not.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;You know you&rsquo;re headed down the wrong path when people start talking abt the Prandtl-Glauert singularity, the result of a simplified eq used to explain the difficulty of &ldquo;breaking the sound barrier&rdquo; before supersonic flight was understood, it&rsquo;s known to be invalid for Mach&gt;0.7!&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Chris Combs<\/strong> &mdash; High-speed aerodynamicist, University of Texas at San Antonio (X thread, 1 September 2020)<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Ropes, Fog and Wing Clouds<\/h2>\r\n<p>The same physics works at far lower speeds wherever air is stretched and chilled. Every lifting wing sheds a pair of counter-rotating vortices from its tips, each with a low-pressure core, and NASA&rsquo;s report says condensation from wingtip vortices is &ldquo;seen more frequently than any other&rdquo; pattern, partly because these vortices form on every configuration that produces lift.<\/p>\r\n<p>Fighters show it as soon as they start to pull. NASA&rsquo;s report puts it simply: &ldquo;The tip vortex is usually the first part of the flow field to condense.&rdquo; The result is two white ropes streaming back from the wingtips, like those behind an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/f-15e-strike-eagle\/\">F-15E Strike Eagle<\/a> leaving a tanker during Operation Iraqi Freedom.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/f-15e-strike-eagle-wingtip-vortex-condensation-kc-10.jpg\" alt=\"F-15E Strike Eagle below a KC-10 tanker with white condensation trails streaming from its wingtips\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">Wingtip vortices condense into white ropes behind an F-15E Strike Eagle as it leaves a KC-10 Extender tanker during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Photo: U.S. Air Force (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Pull harder and the whole top of the wing can fog over. NASA calls this the gull pattern and caught it on its Transonic Aircraft Technology (TACT) research jet at about Mach 0.8 in a 3.3g turn, with flight data showing supercritical flow and a shock wave over the wing. &ldquo;The gull type of condensation pattern can occur on any airplane if the lift conditions are right,&rdquo; the authors wrote.<\/p>\r\n<p>Air show crowds see the dramatic version when a <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/fa-18-super-hornet\/\">Super Hornet<\/a> dives for show center and pulls, as one did at Naval Air Station Oceana in 2004, with a cloud billowing off its upper surfaces. That cloud is lift made visible: low pressure over the wing, chilled air, droplets.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/10\/fa-18f-super-hornet-high-g-wing-condensation-oceana.jpg\" alt=\"F\/A-18F Super Hornet in a hard pull with a large white condensation cloud above its wings\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">An F\/A-18F Super Hornet of VFA-122 pulls hard at the 2004 Naval Air Station Oceana air show, and the low pressure over its wings fills with cloud. Photo: U.S. Navy \/ PH2 Daniel J. McLain (public domain)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>Airliners do it too. On humid days, wings on approach or climb-out can fill with cloud with no shock wave anywhere near them, and Wikipedia notes such clouds form even &ldquo;in purely subsonic flow over wings.&rdquo; A Boeing 777 sinking through fog toward Heathrow turned that into a clip with about 13,000 upvotes on r\/aviation.<\/p>\r\n<p>In the clip, the 777&rsquo;s wingtip vortices drag long curls of fog down behind it while a sheet of condensation hugs the wing. It is the same physics as the Hornet&rsquo;s cone, at a fraction of the speed.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"display:flex;justify-content:center;margin:2em 0\"><blockquote class=\"reddit-embed-bq\" data-embed-height=\"500\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/aviation\/comments\/1oysw52\/boeing_777_has_insane_wing_condensation_breaking\/\">Boeing 777 has insane wing condensation breaking through heavy fog at LHR<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/embed.reddit.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Why the Best Cones Happen Over Water<\/h2>\r\n<p>Vapor cones seem to cluster at carrier decks, beach air shows and harbor fly-bys, and that is no coincidence. The cloud needs humid air, and NOAA notes that maritime air masses &ldquo;originate over the oceans and are therefore moist air masses.&rdquo; In air that wet, a fast, low pass only has to cool it a little to reach the dew point.<\/p>\r\n<p>Look at the examples in this story: Gay&rsquo;s Hornet off Korea, the F-22 over a carrier in the Gulf of Alaska, the Hornet at the top of this page passing USS Carl Vinson in the Pacific, and NASA&rsquo;s F-14A near a carrier. NASA&rsquo;s authors also warned that these patterns &ldquo;often occur without warning because they are affected by atmospheric weather, lighting conditions, and airplane flight conditions.&rdquo; The same jet at the same speed can be wrapped in cloud one day and clean the next.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0 8px\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PQydRIxoAU0\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div><p style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin:0 0 24px;font-style:italic\">A legacy F\/A-18C Hornet roars past a carrier at sea in this 2013 clip; the uploader calls it a sonic boom, but the cloud alone cannot confirm that.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">So, Was It the Sound Barrier?<\/h2>\r\n<p>Maybe. The Navy said the Hornet broke the sound barrier, and no photograph can prove otherwise. What the picture does show is humid air, a jet close to Mach 1 and pockets of supersonic flow ending in a shock. Combs puts the odds bluntly: a vapor cone &ldquo;by no means says a vehicle is moving at M=1 (on the contrary it&rsquo;s quite unlikely the speed is EXACTLY M=1).&rdquo;<\/p>\r\n<p>The sonic boom was never in the frame anyway. A boom is a pressure wave that trails an aircraft for as long as it flies faster than sound, and you hear it rather than see it. The white bell around Gay&rsquo;s Hornet is something better: a cloud made and unmade by the airplane in the instant it takes to pass.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p><em>Sources: NASA SP-514, Patterns in the Sky (James F. Campbell and Joseph R. Chambers, NASA Langley Research Center), 1994; NASA Glenn Research Center, Beginner's Guide to Aeronautics (Transonic Aircraft, Normal Shock Wave Equations, Mach Number); NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day, 19 August 2007; World Press Photo, 2000 Photo Contest archive; U.S. Navy photo 990707-N-6483G-001 (Wikimedia Commons), 7 July 1999; DVIDS, 22 June 2009; Chris Combs (University of Texas at San Antonio) on X, 1 September 2020; NOAA JetStream, Air Masses; Real Engineering (YouTube), 28 August 2021; Wikipedia: Vapor cone, Prandtl-Glauert singularity, Prandtl-Glauert transformation, USS Constellation (CV-64), VFA-151<\/em><\/p>\r\n\r\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What is a vapor cone on a fighter jet?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">A vapor cone is a cloud of condensed water that forms around a fast jet in humid air. Air speeding over the canopy and wings expands, its pressure and temperature drop, and water vapor condenses once it reaches the dew point. A shock wave behind the cloud heats and compresses the air again, evaporating the droplets and giving the cone its sharp back edge.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Does a vapor cone mean a jet is breaking the sound barrier?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. A vapor cone shows that some of the air flowing around a jet has gone supersonic and ended in a shock wave, which can happen below Mach 1. NASA photographed one on an F-14A in level flight at Mach 0.9. Aerodynamicist Chris Combs notes that it is quite unlikely the speed is exactly Mach 1 when a cone appears.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Was the famous 1999 F\/A-18 Hornet vapor cone photo taken at supersonic speed?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Nobody can tell from the picture. The U.S. Navy captioned Ensign John Gay&rsquo;s 7 July 1999 photo of a VFA-151 F\/A-18C Hornet as breaking the sound barrier, but no speed for that pass appears in the Navy caption, the World Press Photo entry or NASA&rsquo;s write-up. The cloud proves only humid air and pockets of supersonic flow around a jet close to Mach 1.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Who took the 1999 F\/A-18 Hornet vapor cone photo?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Ensign John Gay of the U.S. Navy took it on 7 July 1999 from the highest vantage point on the carrier USS Constellation, off Pusan, South Korea. The jet was an <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/aircraft\/fa-18-hornet\/\">F\/A-18C Hornet<\/a> of Strike Fighter Squadron 151. The photo won first prize for science and technology at World Press Photo 2000 and, as a U.S. Navy image, is in the public domain.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Is the Prandtl-Glauert singularity the cause of vapor cones?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">No. The Prandtl-Glauert singularity is a quirk of a simplified compressibility formula that predicts infinite pressure at Mach 1. The formula assumes small disturbances and no shock waves, so it works only up to about Mach 0.7. Real pressures stay finite, and vapor cones are explained by expansion, cooling and condensation that a shock wave then evaporates.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why do vapor cones appear more often over the sea?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Vapor cones need humid air, and air over the ocean tends to be moist: NOAA describes maritime air masses as moist because they originate over the oceans. In air that wet, a fast, low pass only has to cool it a little to reach the dew point, which is why carrier decks, beach air shows and harbor fly-bys produce so many vapor cones.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>What causes the white trails from a fighter jet's wingtips?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Those trails are wingtip vortices made visible. Every lifting wing sheds a pair of counter-rotating vortices from its tips, and their low-pressure cores chill humid air until water vapor condenses. NASA&rsquo;s 1994 study Patterns in the Sky says condensation from wingtip vortices is seen more often than any other pattern, and the tip vortex is usually the first part of the flow to condense.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why do clouds form over a fighter jet's wings in a hard turn?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Pulling hard demands more lift, and lift comes with lower pressure over the wing. In humid air that pressure drop chills the flow enough for water vapor to condense across the top of the wing. NASA calls it the gull pattern and recorded it on its TACT research jet at about Mach 0.8 in a 3.3g turn, and airliners show it too on humid days.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What is a vapor cone on a fighter jet?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"A vapor cone is a cloud of condensed water that forms around a fast jet in humid air. Air speeding over the canopy and wings expands, its pressure and temperature drop, and water vapor condenses once it reaches the dew point. A shock wave behind the cloud heats and compresses the air again, evaporating the droplets and giving the cone its sharp back edge.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Does a vapor cone mean a jet is breaking the sound barrier?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No. A vapor cone shows that some of the air flowing around a jet has gone supersonic and ended in a shock wave, which can happen below Mach 1. NASA photographed one on an F-14A in level flight at Mach 0.9. Aerodynamicist Chris Combs notes that it is quite unlikely the speed is exactly Mach 1 when a cone appears.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Was the famous 1999 F\/A-18 Hornet vapor cone photo taken at supersonic speed?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Nobody can tell from the picture. The U.S. Navy captioned Ensign John Gay\u2019s 7 July 1999 photo of a VFA-151 F\/A-18C Hornet as breaking the sound barrier, but no speed for that pass appears in the Navy caption, the World Press Photo entry or NASA\u2019s write-up. The cloud proves only humid air and pockets of supersonic flow around a jet close to Mach 1.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Who took the 1999 F\/A-18 Hornet vapor cone photo?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Ensign John Gay of the U.S. Navy took it on 7 July 1999 from the highest vantage point on the carrier USS Constellation, off Pusan, South Korea. The jet was an F\/A-18C Hornet of Strike Fighter Squadron 151. The photo won first prize for science and technology at World Press Photo 2000 and, as a U.S. Navy image, is in the public domain.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Is the Prandtl-Glauert singularity the cause of vapor cones?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"No. The Prandtl-Glauert singularity is a quirk of a simplified compressibility formula that predicts infinite pressure at Mach 1. The formula assumes small disturbances and no shock waves, so it works only up to about Mach 0.7. Real pressures stay finite, and vapor cones are explained by expansion, cooling and condensation that a shock wave then evaporates.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why do vapor cones appear more often over the sea?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Vapor cones need humid air, and air over the ocean tends to be moist: NOAA describes maritime air masses as moist because they originate over the oceans. In air that wet, a fast, low pass only has to cool it a little to reach the dew point, which is why carrier decks, beach air shows and harbor fly-bys produce so many vapor cones.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What causes the white trails from a fighter jet's wingtips?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Those trails are wingtip vortices made visible. Every lifting wing sheds a pair of counter-rotating vortices from its tips, and their low-pressure cores chill humid air until water vapor condenses. NASA\u2019s 1994 study Patterns in the Sky says condensation from wingtip vortices is seen more often than any other pattern, and the tip vortex is usually the first part of the flow to condense.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why do clouds form over a fighter jet's wings in a hard turn?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Pulling hard demands more lift, and lift comes with lower pressure over the wing. In humid air that pressure drop chills the flow enough for water vapor to condense across the top of the wing. NASA calls it the gull pattern and recorded it on its TACT research jet at about Mach 0.8 in a 3.3g turn, and airliners show it too on humid days.\"}}]}<\/script><div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/nasas-groundbreaking-photos-showcasing-supersonic-shockwaves\/\">NASAs Groundbreaking Photos showcasing Supersonic Shockwaves<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/mach-tuck-transonic-nose-down-elevator-authority-explained\/\">Mach Tuck: The Dive That Nearly Killed the First Jet Pilots<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/why-some-contrails-stretch-across-the-entire-sky\/\">Why Some Contrails Stretch Across the Entire Sky<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/winglets-richard-whitcomb-nasa-wingtip-vortex-fuel-saving\/\">The Bent Wingtips That Save Billions in Fuel<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The white cloud around a fast jet is weather, not the sound barrier. Here is what a vapor cone really is, and what the famous 1999 Hornet photo can and cannot prove.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":26150150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[665],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26150211","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aviation-world"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Vapor Cone Explained: Not the Sound Barrier | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A vapor cone does not prove a jet broke the sound barrier. The physics of humid air, expansion and shock waves, and the truth about the 1999 Hornet photo.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/vapor-cone-explained-white-cloud-not-sound-barrier\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vapor Cone Explained: Not the Sound Barrier | MiGFlug\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A vapor cone does not prove a jet broke the sound barrier. 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