On Oct 13, 7:12*am, GARY BOGGS CFIG wrote:
The US military did lots of testing and found that solid white was the
most visible paint scheme, *Adding anything else to the solid color
broke up the shape and made it less visible at distances. *I don't
have the data, but it should be available somewhere online. *At a
distance, anything other than white starts to blend into the
background. *But solid white is not very exciting, and I love artistic
paint schemes! *We have a bright orange Lark, and it is impossible to
see at a distance, but beautiful up close.

A couple of years ago a colleague and I had a close meeting under a
cloud street - I was heading north and he was heading south at the
same altitude. We met while cruising at around 80 knots IAS each -
that's a true closing speed of close to 200 mph. We had been in radio
contact a minute or two earlier and knew each others approximate
position. Suddenly, I saw a flash of red ahead slightly to my right
and instinctively turned left and climbed. The other glider passed
about 50 feet under my right wing, never having seen me. The only
reason I saw it was the red nose and wing anti-collision markings
which, in this case at least, worked.

A review of our igc files confirmed the fast closing speed and very
close approach. I think I had something under twenty seconds to
react, at which point the separation between us was about a mile -
pretty much in line with the findings of the UK report.

I think color helps against a background of cloud.

Mike