Peter Mugridge
Veteran Member
In a similar vein to the longest line of sight thread:
What is the furthest distance you have visually tracked an aircraft?
A short while ago I followed a contrail that I had seen appear in the mid distance, watching the plane at the front of it ( with big binoculars ) until it went out of sight behind some trees on a near-neutral horizon to the north west.
I checked Flight Radar 24 to see where it was; would you believe it…. it was over Aberystwyth - an A330 that had departed Heathrow for Canada and was now at 40,000ft. The Heathrow departure point explains why the contrail started to form in the mid distance - until that point the aircraft had not climbed high enough.
Then I saw a contrail appearing further round to the north, no binoculars – just saw it outlined against the sky albeit at a rather higher elevation… looked that one up… directly over Coventry…
This is from Epsom! The straight line distance to Aberystwyth is 180 miles; to Coventry is 91 miles.
Obviously this is an easier thing to do at the moment with so few flights around, making it easier to be certain you are looking at the right one, and the clear sky this evening with none of the usual high level haze helps a lot as it allows a clear view right to the horizon, but even in normal conditions as long as you can see the sky properly following flights with that website is a very good way of learning where various places are in relation to you.
What is the furthest distance you have visually tracked an aircraft?
A short while ago I followed a contrail that I had seen appear in the mid distance, watching the plane at the front of it ( with big binoculars ) until it went out of sight behind some trees on a near-neutral horizon to the north west.
I checked Flight Radar 24 to see where it was; would you believe it…. it was over Aberystwyth - an A330 that had departed Heathrow for Canada and was now at 40,000ft. The Heathrow departure point explains why the contrail started to form in the mid distance - until that point the aircraft had not climbed high enough.
Then I saw a contrail appearing further round to the north, no binoculars – just saw it outlined against the sky albeit at a rather higher elevation… looked that one up… directly over Coventry…
This is from Epsom! The straight line distance to Aberystwyth is 180 miles; to Coventry is 91 miles.
Obviously this is an easier thing to do at the moment with so few flights around, making it easier to be certain you are looking at the right one, and the clear sky this evening with none of the usual high level haze helps a lot as it allows a clear view right to the horizon, but even in normal conditions as long as you can see the sky properly following flights with that website is a very good way of learning where various places are in relation to you.