HAVE you seen strange contrails in the skies over Grimsby?
This picture was taken by a reader near the Oasis Wintringham Academy yesterday morning and appears to show a contrail stretching straight across the sky, then starting to peter out, before suddenly dropping to the ground.
As posted on www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk, the woman, who did not wish to be named, said: "I hadn't seen it until the school bus driver pointed it out. It just drops out of the sky.
"It must be over Mablethorpe way. We wondered if there had been a plane crash and I was telling the teachers nearby to put the TV on, but there was nothing about it.
"At the bottom of the trail, there was a strange, orange glow and I could see some black smoke.
"We also saw a smaller plane flying towards it, then it suddenly swung around and went back the other way. It's really strange."
However, fears she had witnessed the aftermath of a disaster luckily proved to be unfounded.
After being sent the picture by the Grimsby Telegraph, a spokesman for the Met Office said: "Condensation trails only occur high in the atmosphere. Today the aircraft would have to be above 29,000ft.
"As the aircraft moves away from the viewer it 'appears' to be heading closer and closer to the ground, but it is still at the same height above the ground. It is just from the viewer's perspective that it appears to be falling.
"The contrail in the picture has probably been there for a little while, and the strong winds at high level will distort the trail as well."
Reader Pat Copley also got in touch to say she had seen the trails, but that there was "nothing sinister" about it.
She said: "Where we live we have open views across the countryside and the orange glow the lady said she saw was the sun.
"I was also watching the trails in the sky this morning. I will agree there was a lot more than usual, but we also could see the planes, although they were very high."
Commenting online, davel60Friday, added: "An aircraft is travelling from left to right. It then changes direction, flying away from the viewer towards the rising sun. Also, I'm not so sure these trails are a new thing.
"There are lots of photographs and film from the Second World War of aircraft producing these trails, but then, the X-Files didn't exist then, not with Mulder on the case. No one to investigate then."
Share your sightings:
Have you seen anything strange in the Lincolnshire skies? If so, send us your pictures and videos by e-mailing pictures@grimsbytelegraph.co.uk. Please don't forget to include details of where and when you spotted the phenomenon and your name and contact details.
