Most Visible Color for Aircraft

"Buff5200" wrote in message
...


Cub Driver wrote:



Right, and fire engines used to be red but now are yellow.


All the fire engines in our town went back to Red after a decade of
yellow/green.

It was found that Lighting is much more important than the color for
visibility.

And when our fire trucks were yellow/green the public thought they were
highway/garbage trucks. We went back to Red because that's the color
the public most associates with fire trucks.


CD,

Just out of curiosity, do you happen to know what the upside of painting
Fire/Rescue Vehicles WHITE was supposed to be?

I don't see too many these days, but for a while it was quite prevalent
around the Phoenix metro area.

TIA,

Jay

A study was done in england to find the best color/pattern for
increasing glider visibility. They found out that solid black was
best (unfortunetly grp aircraft have to be mostly white, heat issues)
and that bright stripes on a white aircraft broke up the silhouette
and did'nt improve visiblility. I heard the same argument regarding
military use of parachutes, they are grey because all black creates a
definitive outline even at night.

Gregg Ballou opined

A study was done in england to find the best color/pattern for
increasing glider visibility. They found out that solid black was
best (unfortunetly grp aircraft have to be mostly white, heat issues)
and that bright stripes on a white aircraft broke up the silhouette
and did'nt improve visiblility. I heard the same argument regarding
military use of parachutes, they are grey because all black creates a
definitive outline even at night.

Is black good when looking down for an aircraft?


-ash
Cthulhu for President!
Why vote for a lesser evil?

wrote in message
...
Howdy,

I've been looking all over, and I can't seem to find any discussions on
the
relative visibility of various colors for aircraft. I would guess that
the
best color might be different when viewed against the sky or the ground.

I think white on top (contrast vs ground clutter) and dark on the underside
(contrast vs sky) works well, like, for example, the factory Mooney schemes,
http://www.mooney.com/ .

Julian Scarfe

A study within the military showed that the most visible color for
identifying the shape of a plane against any background, is a solid, dark
blue...
Now, don't shoot the messenger as he has a tender hide... If you don't like
the message, do your own research...
denny
"Julian Scarfe" wrote in message
news:zZE2c.1820$re1.1377@newsfe1-win...
wrote in message
...
Howdy,

I've been looking all over, and I can't seem to find any discussions on
the
relative visibility of various colors for aircraft. I would guess that
the
best color might be different when viewed against the sky or the
ground.

I think white on top (contrast vs ground clutter) and dark on the
underside
(contrast vs sky) works well, like, for example, the factory Mooney
schemes,
http://www.mooney.com/ .

Julian Scarfe

I think white on top (contrast vs ground clutter) and dark on the
underside
(contrast vs sky) works well, like, for example, the factory Mooney
schemes,
http://www.mooney.com/ .

"Dennis O'Connor" wrote in message
...
A study within the military showed that the most visible color for
identifying the shape of a plane against any background, is a solid, dark
blue...
Now, don't shoot the messenger as he has a tender hide... If you don't
like
the message, do your own research...

No shots fired. :-) Do you have a reference for the study?

I remember the RAF Tornados getting painted black all over some years ago
after similar studies. Presumably they get repainted before going into
action.

I'd hesitate to paint a GA aircraft dark on top unless it was going to spend
most of its time in the shade.

Julian

On the reference, Julian, I simply cannot remember where I read that... I
was surfing various government and military web sites when I chanced upon
it, sometime in the past ten years if that helps...

Black planes were normallyused only for night hunters, being too visible
during the day, and that was universal among the combatants of WWII...
Remember, in those days you had to fly up on someone's tail to blast them,
so low visibility was crucial for survival at night... Much of the aircraft
in the battlefield had their paint mostly stripped off and repainted to
match their environment - and too hell with some armchair general's orders
back in the states...

Look at the picture of Yeager's, Glamorous Glennis in actual battle dress,
it is a smudged, dull, grey to match battlefield murky/smoky conditions and
prevent reflections...
In today's battlefields, the ID is made by the electronics and the missile
launched from miles away... Visibility is now an issue for air traffic
control and rescue crews, not air to air combat...
denny

"Julian Scarfe" wrote in message Do you have a
reference for the study?

I remember the RAF Tornados getting painted black all over some years ago
after similar studies.

"Julian Scarfe" wrote in message
news:fnF2c.1824$re1.544@newsfe1-win...
No shots fired. :-) Do you have a reference for the study?

I remember the RAF Tornados getting painted black all over some years ago
after similar studies. Presumably they get repainted before going into
action.

Most of the RAF training fleet is now black. The Tornado GR4s are
being painted black too. Tornados tended to get painted for the job
at hand. For desert camouflage during Desert Storm they were painted
in this colour:
http://www.flyingzone.co.uk/tornadoi...stormunits.htm

RAF black:
http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/hawk.html
http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/tucano.html
http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/griffin.html
http://www.raf.mod.uk/equipment/ssquirrel.html

I'd hesitate to paint a GA aircraft dark on top unless it was going to
spend
most of its time in the shade.

Mine seems to survive ok out in the sun. Ok, it's based near Andover
in Hampshire rather than Arizona. I've even got a black cover for it.

My plane:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?P6D3256A7

Grey was seen to be the low visibility scheme.

Paul

A study within the military showed that the most visible color for
identifying the shape of a plane against any background, is a solid, dark
blue...

During WWII the RAF painted its photo-recce planes dark blue so they
couldn't be seen.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (requires authentication)

see the Warbird's Forum at www.warbirdforum.com
and the Piper Cub Forum at www.pipercubforum.com

Cub Driver wrote:

During WWII the RAF painted its photo-recce planes dark blue so they
couldn't be seen.

First off, it's sort of an electric robin's egg blue - not very dark, and
secondly, very few of us are flying at 40,000'.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.