In article ,
TRUTH wrote:

Flying in clear
skies does not require an instrument rating.

At 30,000 feet it does

Only if you're worried about being fined or having your license taken
away.

I have plenty of photos taken from airplanes that show enough ground
detail (to the point where you can recognize specific highway
interchanges and landmarks). You can easily see Manhattan Island from
that height (I recognized it from a plane en route to Boston from Miami
once, from 30,000+ feet and fifteen or more miles horizontal separation,
with less-than-perfect weather conditions).