Too bad there is no sound in the clip. I'm also not sure of the quality of the site, it did work for me. http://www.funnydaze.co.uk/video/web%20mpegs/FS14ss.mpeg
i'm pretty sure that's all real. i've seen stuff like it before (on video). it happens only when it's really humid, i believe - the water vapor in the air gets affected by the sonic boom or something along those lines. nb: i'm neither a pilot nor a physicist nor a chemist - i just play them on the net. doody.
The plane does not have to be going supersonic to create that effect. It is do to the atmospheric conditions more than the speed. It would move across your screen a whole lot faster (even in slo-mo) if it was breaking the sound barrier, especially at that low of an altitude. Over 700 MPH at sea level, sound barrier speed decreases with altitude. You will see the same effect off the rear wings of F1 cars in humid conditions. The humid air is vaporized as it passes over the surfaces.
It is not that the humid air is vaporized. (It already is vapor) It is that the heavier moisture is forced to condense in to visible sized drops by the concussion of the air around the object moving through it.
I don't think our eyes could see the plane in that shot, if he were going "the speed of light". 8 mins from my house to the sun. Now that's fast!
This was discussed at length in a past thread. The plane does not have to be supersonic. I observed the same phenomenon surrounding an F-4 Phantom jet back in the early seventies when the Air Force Thunderbirds were giving an air show. The day was cloudy and high in humidity.
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Is it possible that the airflow over certain parts of the plane are above the local speed of sound at that point on the plane? While the entire plane itself may not be supersonic, could shockwaves generated by areas of the wings where the displaced air is supersonic locally cause the rapid condensation of the water droplets in humid air?
