EUROCONTROL is a civil-military organization that works with multiple countries in Europe to support European aviation. EUROCONTROL Maastricht Upper Area Control (MUAC) partnered with German Aerospace Centre (DLR) to carry out the world’s first live contrail prevention trial in 2021. As a result of this trial MUAC was able to conclude in 2021 that contrail prevention is operationally possible.
The MUAC/DLR contrail prevention project team uses geo stationary satellite images to verify the location of contrails. Based on this and traffic conditions, the team will advise pilots on flights to change their flight level mid-flight to avoid forming contrails. The team will work from 4:00p.m. to 6:00 a.m., the time period when persistent, warming contrails are most likely to form, to advise pilots.Â