RVSM from Cabin Class

"Kyle Boatright" writes:
We flew commercial back to Atlanta yesterday from California after a
weeklong trip to San Francisco, Napa, and Yosemite. On the way home, I had
a window seat and was surprised on a couple of occasions at how close 1,000'
of vertical separation appears when you're looking out the window from seat
13A. When another airliner passes 1,000' right under you on a reciprocal
heading with a closing speed of over 1,000 mph, it looks CLOSE.

I got the chance to sit up front in a plane in the flight levels a few
weeks ago, and it looks really close from the front window too. :-)
Especially dramatic is when you have two planes, one 1000' above you,
and another 1000' below you, passing at almost exactly the same time.
It feels like you are threading a needle between the other two
planes...

Chris

I got the chance to sit up front in a plane in the flight levels a few
weeks ago, and it looks really close from the front window too. :-)
Especially dramatic is when you have two planes, one 1000' above you,
and another 1000' below you, passing at almost exactly the same time.
It feels like you are threading a needle between the other two
planes...

Chris

When you are at flight levels, due to the curvature of the earth, on first
apperance, the "higher" aircraft may appear to be lower, and as the distance
closes, the appearance is that he climbs from below to above, where he was
all the time.

I will agree that it is "dramatic".

BT

When you are at flight levels, due to the curvature of the earth, on first
apperance, the "higher" aircraft may appear to be lower,

The curvature of the earth is greater in the bugsmasher altitudes.

How far away are you seeing these airplanes?

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

during normal air refueling join ups.. the contrail may give away the
location
sometimes about 15 miles distant the aircraft can be picked up
especially with a sun glint
10 miles, very easily
BT

"Jose" wrote in message
om...
When you are at flight levels, due to the curvature of the earth, on
first apperance, the "higher" aircraft may appear to be lower,

The curvature of the earth is greater in the bugsmasher altitudes.

How far away are you seeing these airplanes?

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it
keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

Jose writes:

When you are at flight levels, due to the curvature of the earth, on first
apperance, the "higher" aircraft may appear to be lower,

The curvature of the earth is greater in the bugsmasher altitudes.

How far away are you seeing these airplanes?

FWIW, at FL360 aircraft will be already be in line of sight as much as
200 nm away (ground distance). Of course, human vision and
atmospheric conditions put more restrictive limits on visibility.

--
Transpose mxsmanic and gmail to reach me by e-mail.

You can see the curve 20 miles away.
"Jose" wrote in message
om...
When you are at flight levels, due to the curvature of the earth, on
first apperance, the "higher" aircraft may appear to be lower,

The curvature of the earth is greater in the bugsmasher altitudes.

How far away are you seeing these airplanes?

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where it
keeps its brain." (chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.