When skimming Eric Brown's book for another thread, I came across this bit:
The basic difference between jet and piston-engine training is that jets work at higher altitudes. We had to learn the tricks of formatting and fighting at great heights. It is one of the greatest difficulties in starting this work to realize that visual sighting of another aircraft at high altitude is very hard in comparison with low altitudes. In the cloudless and horizonless stratosphere the human eye tends to focus at a natural distance of only a few feet, and there is nothing outside the cockpit to draw this focus out to a greater range. So it is not unusual for two aeroplanes to pass each other at high altitude a mere few hundred yards apart without seeing each other.
Can any pilots speak to this?
I've been reading a bunch about Sabre vs. MiG combat lately and this certainly plays into how often one side failed to see another before it was too late (even in the cloudless, pristine sky looking for a gleaming, sliver enemy).
The basic difference between jet and piston-engine training is that jets work at higher altitudes. We had to learn the tricks of formatting and fighting at great heights. It is one of the greatest difficulties in starting this work to realize that visual sighting of another aircraft at high altitude is very hard in comparison with low altitudes. In the cloudless and horizonless stratosphere the human eye tends to focus at a natural distance of only a few feet, and there is nothing outside the cockpit to draw this focus out to a greater range. So it is not unusual for two aeroplanes to pass each other at high altitude a mere few hundred yards apart without seeing each other.
Can any pilots speak to this?
I've been reading a bunch about Sabre vs. MiG combat lately and this certainly plays into how often one side failed to see another before it was too late (even in the cloudless, pristine sky looking for a gleaming, sliver enemy).
