What was claimed
A series of images show chemtrails around Heathrow airport.
Our verdict
These lines are actually contrails, caused by water vapour produced by aeroplane engines freezing at high altitude.
Lines reportedly seen in the sky around Heathrow are contrails, not chemtrails
27 January 2023
A Facebook post has shared a number of photos showing contrails from aeroplane engines in the sky, apparently near London Heathrow airport, which it claims are actually “chemtrails”.
It says: “London Heathrow area this morning after 4 chemtrail free days which strangely coincided perfectly with articles written in the mainstream news lying and trying debunking chemtrails as contrails [sic] …. Well they are certainly back with a vengeance today”.
Full Fact hasn’t verified the location of these images.
The “chemtrails” conspiracy theory claims white lines of vapour in the sky left behind by aeroplanes are evidence of a plot to spread poison or control the weather by spraying chemicals from aircraft. This isn’t true.
As we’ve written several times previously, these lines are actually contrails, caused by water vapour produced by aeroplane engines which freezes at high altitude, forming long thin lines of ice crystals.
These clouds of ice crystals can behave differently depending on the humidity and temperature of the air surrounding the aircraft. Sometimes they will change directly from a solid to a gas, becoming invisible within a few minutes. But others can remain frozen in the sky for hours, which is why some images show contrails with no plane in sight.
Image courtesy of Downtowngal
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because these lines are actually contrails, caused by water vapour produced by aeroplane engines freezing at high altitude.