posted 03-26-2001 01:51 AM            

it seems as though we are slowly moving towards a good working environment. i hope this is the case as i do enjoy discussing these issues with you folks. well, most of you!

anyway, 38 miles is even more reasonable and would not be unusual.

"We'll just have to disagree on the effect of the atmosphere on the quality of "seeing." I would expect definition to degrade and the color to shift more and more toward blue when looking through that much air."

well we will have to disagree on this point. you can either take my word for it or not (but if you think that i am lying then you have to think that all pilots are lying because they will all tell you the same thing). it is very possible to see objects, including contrails, at very large distances. i witness this almost every day. we have something called TCAS which shows us the position of other aircraft. we can sometimes see aircraft 40 miles away on the screen and their contrails are easily seen.