How far do most people fly?

[Humanparody]

Thanks, and I agree. Perhaps the moderator would be so kind as to explain how they don't agree.

 

[triumphrider]

Did they really delete my post? Can a moderator please explain to me what was wrong with that post?

I've gotten a few posts deleted as well from this thread and some nice warning messages. I understand the moderators have a certain responsibility to maintain civility, but they are stricter here than any forum I've been a part of. Chances are this post will be deleted as well. With all do respect to the moderators, I understand you have a job to do, but relax and let people express how they feel about a topic.

 

[BlakPhoenix]

Ok. let's get some science in here about sight!

Good eyes, in good viewing conditions can distinguish separation in objects down to an angular size of 1 arc minute/0.0003 radians. But we can go further! Working out the diffraction limit of the human eye is pretty simple:

θ ≈ 1.22×λD
, where θ is the angular size of the object
, λ is the wavelength of visible light
and D is the diameter of the pupil.

Given the average human pupil size of 4mm, we can work out that the absolute minimum angular size of an object the average human eye can perceive is 0.0002 rads! Yeah, go science!!

Now to work out how far away we can both distinguish the Mavic from other objects/it's orientation/etc., and the technical absolute distance it can be seen, irrespective of orientation.

Given the formula to work out angular size at a distance: Angular Size (in rads) = Object Size / Object Distance, we can easily work these distances. The Mavic diagonal size is 335 mm (excluding props). We have to work in the same measurement for all to make this work, so let's convert the Mavic size to meters (0.335m) so we can try some difference scenarios without dealing with large numbers.

Maths Time
0.335m/500m = 0.00067 rads
0.335m/1000m = 0.00335 rads
0.335m/1500m = 0.000223 rads
0.335m/2000m = 0.000167 rads

TL;DR
The technical maximum for viewing the Mavic by the average human eye, in perfect conditions is 1675 meters / 5495 ft. It would show up as a single black pixel against the sky with no features. If we want to be able to see changes in the Mavic's orientation/view the back light we must be closer and the limit of ~1100 meters / 3600 ft would be more appropriate.

Unfortunately, our eyes degrade as we get older, and these numbers assume that you are young, with no eye problems. So yes, while the Mavic is certainly viewable past 1km, most of us would not be able to see it at 1.5km, and certainly no human can spot a Mavic at 2km.

Do with this information as you will.

 

[Humanparody]

Just for the sake of discussion, let's say someone came up with a lighting package much like they use on boats whereby you can tell the orientation of the craft based on which color you can see. Let's assume that our little black pixel now can be one of any number of colors and that the light is bright enough to be seen clearly from 2km+ away.
Would this be enough to qualify as LOS?