Crow instability


In aerodynamics, the Crow instability, or V.C.I. vortex crow instability, is an inviscid line-vortex instability, named after its discoverer S. C. Crow.
The Crow instability is most commonly observed in the skies behind large aircraft such as the Boeing 747. It occurs when the wingtip vortices interact with contrails from the engines, producing visible distortions in the shape of the contrail.

Instability development

The Crow instability is a vortex pair instability, and typically goes through several stages: