Aircraft visiblilty

[cmaclean55]

This morning whilst watching out the window I seen LH493 go overhead at 39,000ft and watched as it made its way SE, I watched it whilst looking on flightradar24 and it was still visible as it flew over the forth and lost sight just after it started going over the North Sea.

I am in Glenfinnan in the West Highlands and couldn't believe I could still see the plane as it was quite far away (100miles plus) considering I live in an area surrounded by mountains.

What sort of distance can people see planes up until on great days like today at that height?

[Allan666]

I have also been surprised just how far away that you can still see an aircraft..I also watch them on that web site..

[Minus1]

This will calculate your theoretical radio horizon:
http://www.qsl.net/w4sat/horizon.htm

[stu]

I live and work in East Lothian and use FR24 on a daily basis. I regularly spot aircraft from my location that, according to FR24, are south of the Border around Newcastle / Carlisle. I also see them working up and down the west coast (im the other side of the country on the east coast). I suppose how far away you can see the aircraft will depend on a number of factors i.e. visibility, location, altitude of aircraft and whether it has a vapour trail or not, your own eyesight etc etc but like everyone else ive been surprised at how far you can see. Though given that they cruise at around 7 miles up we really shouldnt be all that surprised should we

[cmaclean55]

This will calculate your theoretical radio horizon:
http://www.qsl.net/w4sat/horizon.htm

For the 1st station, the Radio Horizon is 24miles away.
For the 2nd station, the Radio Horizon is 279miles away.
The total line of sight distance is 303 Miles.

The visibility was great yesterday morning and the sun light was catching the plane well along with the vapour trail. It was defo that plane that was on FR24.

Amazing

[marcusabacus]

This will calculate your theoretical radio horizon:
http://www.qsl.net/w4sat/horizon.htm

For the 1st station, the Radio Horizon is 24miles away.
For the 2nd station, the Radio Horizon is 279miles away.
The total line of sight distance is 303 Miles.

The visibility was great yesterday morning and the sun light was catching the plane well along with the vapour trail. It was defo that plane that was on FR24.

Amazing

Ha... If that was the case seeing 303 miles then you wouldn't see any blue sky , it would just be planes everywhere....the sky would be full of them!

303 miles from me means i could see planes above Amsterdam 222 miles , Dublin 289 miles, Edinburgh 332 miles and Dortmund in Germany 326 miles away....

Ha laughable not a chance!

Don't believe everything that is on the internet...

[punkrocker62]

FR24 do a great android app too

[Minus1]

Don't believe everything that is on the internet...

Don't be so dismissive either.

The figures relate to a theoretical situation (flat land), or a path over sea — much obviously depends upon topography between you and the aircraft.

From my location it is easy to get aircraft 250 miles away, flying over northern France.

Yet it is far harder to get aircraft flying over Ireland because the Welsh mountains get in the way.

[RogerD]

Ha... If that was the case seeing 303 miles then you wouldn't see any blue sky , it would just be planes everywhere....the sky would be full of them!

I invite you to think about that, a little more - as I respectfully point out that I believe it to be complete nonsense

[smoggy07]

I don't know how far it is possible to see but I do know that if you stand at the shore line on a beach looking out to sea, the horizon is normally about 3 miles out to sea and you can't see any further than that as the curvature of the earth means objects on the horizon appear to rise up or sink down over/under the horizon when they are more than 3 mile away coming or going

Think about it this way, how far away are the stars in the sky at night, thousands of miles? Light years? and you can see those on a clear night