Check Out The Copious Amount Of Vapor Spilling Off This F-35A During Chicago Air Show - Copious Amount Of Vapor Spilling Off This F-35A 2.jpg ...

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The F-35 Heritage Flight team has been zipping around the U.S. as air show
season continues. On August 18th, the team gave the masses arrayed along
Chicago's picturesque waterfront one hell of a show. And considering it was a
remote show over water, and that the air off Lake Michigan was nice and moist,
full vape cones and capes were in effect. The Joint Strike Fighter in particular
has proven to be quite adept at manifesting such atmospheric effects, a fact
that was captured wonderfully by Airman 1st Class Alexander Cook.

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Oftentimes laymen confuse shock collars, vapor cones, 'vape capes,' and other
forms of vapor as a sign that the aircraft has broken the sound barrier. This is
not accurate at all. Although these effects can be greatly intensified as an
aircraft reaches transonic speeds (approaching the speed of sound), they can
also manifest themselves in various ways at far lower speeds.

The phenomenon is caused by low pressure areas created on the aircraft's skin
and wings as it moves through moist air. As the pressure drops so does the
temperature, and if the temperature reaches the saturation point, water vapor is
created. Such conditions are highly sought-after by aviation photographers. I
have chased these conditions for years in order to execute certain photos. They
are also a reason why it's worth getting excited about an air show that may not
feature perfectly blue skies or even dry conditions.

Some aircraft create vapor in more exotic ways than other due to their shape and
their performance envelope. The F-22 is notorious for its uncanny ability to
create crazy vapor effects even at slow speed and in relatively dry conditions.
The F-15 is known for its streamers and its thick vape-capes that propagate
along the top of the aircraft's lifting-body fuselage. Hornets and Super Hornets
make great shock cones, and so on and so forth.



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