Did i see a chem trail?

While I was doing deliveries for my restaurant yesterday I saw a black aircraft that looked like a C - 130 Hercules fly over. There was a smoke trail behind it. The smoke trail was not highly visible but still easiy to see. Since C - 130 uses propellers instead of jet engines there shouldn't be any smoke trails behind it. Have anyone ever seen any thing like this before? What is your theory behind it?

[edit on 24-3-2006 by ZengZicong]

Most 'sprayers' have been white so this would go against past experience. Most have been high altitude but some spraying activity has been reported at low altitude. Most sprayers have been large cargo type jets rather than older prop planes like the C130. I'm guessing that the smoke you saw was from oil being burned by the C130's engines and coming out of the exhaust? Maybe somebody else can add to this that truly knows the mechanicals on these planes.

The C-130 uses turboprop engines, which are just propellors attached to jet engines. Contrails can form at the wingtips too, so engines aren't the only way for them to form.

If it was a single plane by itself and it just flew over and didn't come back I'd say no.

When you see a spray operation in progress you are left with little doubt if you pay attention. If you catch it early you will see the planes for a couple of hours, criss-crossing the sky in a defined pattern...

Originally posted by ZengZicong
While I was doing deliveries for my restaurant yesterday I saw a black aircraft that looked like a C - 130 Hercules fly over. There was a smoke trail behind it. The smoke trail was not highly visible but still easiy to see. Since C - 130 uses propellers instead of jet engines there shouldn't be any smoke trails behind it. Have anyone ever seen any thing like this before? What is your theory behind it?

[edit on 24-3-2006 by ZengZicong]

The C-130 is a turboprop, so it uses a jet engine to turn the propellor. It always leaves a light brown trail behind it that you can see. I have some pics of them, but they aren't on this computer so I can't put them up until I get mine fixed.

Edit to add links. It's not easy to see, but if you look closely you'll see the smoke trail in these pics.
www.airliners.net...
www.airliners.net...
www.airliners.net...

[edit on 3/24/2006 by Zaphod58]

Originally posted by Zaphod58

Originally posted by ZengZicong
While I was doing deliveries for my restaurant yesterday I saw a black aircraft that looked like a C - 130 Hercules fly over. There was a smoke trail behind it. The smoke trail was not highly visible but still easiy to see. Since C - 130 uses propellers instead of jet engines there shouldn't be any smoke trails behind it. Have anyone ever seen any thing like this before? What is your theory behind it?

[edit on 24-3-2006 by ZengZicong]

The C-130 is a turboprop, so it uses a jet engine to turn the propellor. It always leaves a light brown trail behind it that you can see. I have some pics of them, but they aren't on this computer so I can't put them up until I get mine fixed.

Edit to add links. It's not easy to see, but if you look closely you'll see the smoke trail in these pics.
www.airliners.net...
www.airliners.net...
www.airliners.net...

[edit on 3/24/2006 by Zaphod58]

Yeah thats exactly what the smoke behind it looked like. Thanks