Sustainability and Environment
Falcon 20E Tails German Airliners To Assess Contrails
Germany’s Aerospace Research Center is measuring contrail formation
Probe on Falcon 20E jet
A probe has been fitted to a Falcon 20E jet that DLR is using to measure contrail formation from airliners.

Germany’s DLR Aerospace Research Center has deployed a Dassault Falcon 20E aircraft to monitor contrail formation in European airspace. On Wednesday, the agency reported that the specially equipped jet has been following airliners operated by German carrier TUIfly.

The exercise is part of the EU-backed A4Climate project, which involves 17 other partners from nine countries, including Austrian flight planning group Flightkeys, which is helping DLR to gather data. The project will analyze 400 scheduled flights that have been selected on the expectation that they will generate few contrails as part of an effort to understand how the condensation from jet engines can be minimized.