THE BRITISH bases yesterday rubbished claims by Green party MP George Perdikis that they were conducting experiments which involved the spraying of chemicals from aircraft to influence the weather.
“The British Bases would like to make it clear that no such experiments have ever taken place by any aircraft operating from RAF Akrotiri,” said a statement from the bases.
It said the trails left behind by planes were “condensation trails” or contrails which form when exhaust gases from passing passenger jet engines combine with very cold, humid air at high altitude.”
Perdikis had told the Cyprus Mail on Tuesday that the contrails “can’t be vapour” and that he believed that people were carrying out experiments which aimed to “manipulate the weather, global dimming and so on.” Perdikis pleaded for the government to investigate the issue.
The British bases statement yesterday went on to say that the planes which created the contrails over Limassol on Monday afternoon did not take off from the RAF base at Akrotiri.
“There were three aircraft departures from RAF Akrotiri on Monday afternoon, a chartered civilian cargo aircraft that took off at 15.53 local time, an RAF Tristar taking passengers back to the UK which departed at 18.05 and a Cessna 172 light aircraft from the RAF Akrotiri Flying Club that took off at 17.25 and returned at 17,49, the statement said.
“None of these aircraft would have created any contrails over the SBAs as they would not have reached the required altitude within SBA airspace.
It also said that Cyprus experiences relatively few contrails due to the dry air that is generally found above the island. “Occasionally the wind direction will change bringing in moisture from the Mediterranean which would create the conditions required to form contrails,” the bases said. “There are more contrail sightings during the cooler months as the cold air is found at lower altitudes including altitudes at which many passenger jets are cruising.
It is not the first time the bases have had to debunk claims that it is involved on manipulating the weather through a connection it may or may not have to the US Defence Department’s High Frequency Active Auroral Research Programme (HAARP), a giant ‘weather station’ based in Alaska, which is said to be mucking about in the ionosphere on a regular basis.
The term chemtrail is derived from “chemical trail” in the same way as contrail is an abbreviation for condensation trail. It does not refer to common forms of aerial spraying such as crop dusting, cloud seeding or aerial firefighting. The term specifically refers to aerial trails allegedly caused by the systematic high-altitude release of chemical substances not found in ordinary contrails, resulting in the appearance of supposedly uncharacteristic sky tracks. Supporters of the theory speculate that the purpose of the chemical release may be for global dimming, population control, weather control, or biological warfare/chemical warfare and claim that these trails are causing respiratory illnesses and other health problem
