Not sure how to feel about this...

paflyer said:
I guess you'd really hate my cloaked Bird of Prey.

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I raise you a.....
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Got news for you. Unless every airplane is painted bright neon international orange, it ain't gonna make much difference. Buy the time you can distinguish color, in most cases, you can already see it well enough to tell make and model. Its not color that you notice when you detect traffic from a distance, but relative motion.
 
Aircraft color likely doesn't make much difference in see-and-avoid, since other aircraft are usually seen as silhouettes. Search and rescue is a different issue. That camo paint would be tough to spot against just about any terrain other than snow.
 
Zeldman said:
I remember watching the buffs take off from Bergstrom AFB when I was a kid. I was always impressed with the amount of smoke they would leave in trail..
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That picture is of a MITO launch, where the pilots takeoff in succession at 15 second intervals. Quite a sight to see up to 8-10 of them launch, instant IMC with all the smoke.

 
Before the Buffs went with the new engines, the J57 used to be water injected. That's what is causing all the black smoke. The water was 10 times more pure that what one would drink from the faucet.
 
Pilawt said:
Aircraft color likely doesn't make much difference in see-and-avoid, since other aircraft are usually seen as silhouettes. Search and rescue is a different issue. That camo paint would be tough to spot against just about any terrain other than snow.
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Paint 'em the one color that doesn't exist in nature...WalMart tarp blue!
 
mscard88 said:
That picture is of a MITO launch, where the pilots takeoff in succession at 15 second intervals. Quite a sight to see up to 8-10 of them launch, instant IMC with all the smoke.

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Wow..!!! Such a great sight.!! Thanks for the memories..!!
 
Pilawt said:
Aircraft color likely doesn't make much difference in see-and-avoid, since other aircraft are usually seen as silhouettes. Search and rescue is a different issue. That camo paint would be tough to spot against just about any terrain other than snow.
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Mine is bright yellow from cowl to rudder. People still miss seeing me. I think strobes and landing lights - especially wig-wags - are the most helpful. Assuming you don’t have smoke on, that is.

I’m going with smoke, naturally. :)
 
GA mid-airs are pretty rare, and outside the traffic pattern I believe even more rare. Just not very high on the list of things to kill you. Or worry about.
 
Zeldman said:
I would think the smoke would be visible....
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I thought the same. ;)

And why is everybody freaking out over the blue camouflage paint? I can see it clearly against the green ground. Or brown ground. Is PoA getting so old that people here are color-blind nowadays? :)
 
Seems a little nit picky to me...
 
Yep, had an encounter with a NORDO olive green bird dog last summer.
 
N747JB said:
I saw a 210 in Florida many years ago at a paint shop and it was powder blue all except the top surfaces, it was a darker blue! :D I always figured the owner didn’t want to be seen! :rolleyes:
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Probably not hauling puppies.
 
I'm not trying to ruffle feathers with this, honest. But paint a plane any color you want. It seldom amounts to a hill of beans difference. There's not a pilot here who hasn't been told to be aware of another aircraft a short distance away, the aircraft isn't blue camo, we're told exactly where to look and we still never see it.

Yeah, I want every factor possible to increase safety, but every aircraft could be blue camo and I don't think it would increase safety .1%.
 
Tantalum said:
...Has anyone here ever had to actually take evasive action to avoid hitting someone?
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I have, more than once. But I was working in Alaska fish spotting. Occasionally would have quite a few aircraft orbiting the fishing fleet from 300-800 ft agl in a limited area. I do remember one instance of meeting an opposite direction 206 in Merrill Pass(also in AK); we were very near the same altitude. I pushed and turned and when he went by above me, he was not far away. Don't think he saw me.
 
FastEddieB said:
VFR, traffic avoidance is primarily based on the concept of “See and Avoid”. And someday you or I may be sharing airspace with some who intentionally painted their plane to make it as difficult as possible to see. Seems reckless.
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I don't think the camo matters. Airplanes are seen against the sky or ground, and in half the time or more they are seen because they obscure the light coming from the background haze. And no matter the background, most of the time the eye only sees them because of relative motion. USAF looked into this and they found that about the only thing that reduces detection is monotone grey. RuAF still use camo, because they live in the 1980s are are still concerned about the optical detection by e.g. recon planes.

BTW, are you aware that small airplanes have optical beacons (or strobes) installed on them? And pilots are legally required to verify that these beacons work?
 
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I feel like there is a higher percentage of fascists among pilots than the general population; perhaps this is because so many pilots want to tell other pilots exactly what they can/cannot do.
 
There was a search for a white with blue stripe Cessna in Alaska one winter. What made it easy to find was the big black hole in the snow and the smoke coming from that hole. Wingtips and tail was recognizable, nothing else was.
 
Zeldman said:
There was a search for a white with blue stripe Cessna in Alaska one winter. What made it easy to find was the big black hole in the snow and the smoke coming from that hole. Wingtips and tail was recognizable, nothing else was.
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Ahh the smoking gun, er, hole eh?

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ChiefPilot said:
I feel like there is a higher percentage of fascists among pilots than the general population; perhaps this is because so many pilots want to tell other pilots exactly what they can/cannot do.
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Be darned if I see the diffrence 'twixt a facist and a liberal then. .liberals dress better, I think.
 
Timbeck2 said:
Before the Buffs went with the new engines, the J57 used to be water injected. That's what is causing all the black smoke. The water was 10 times more pure that what one would drink from the faucet.
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Done more than a few of those. #6 in a 21 ship MITO was bad enough, could not imagine what it was like for #21.
Really feel it when the water runs out. B-52G, KMER, 1984, KBAD, 1985-1987. 12 seconds was the goal.
 
Well, Most people that come to our shop want their plane base coat "WHITE" with two color stripes.. with 80% of the plane "WHITE" like the clouds... I think some people might just need to put glasses on... or take off the IFR training Hood.
 
I once, and only once, never saw it again, saw a corporate jet (it was so long ago I don't remember what it was) that was painted in vertical stripes that resembled a roll of assorted 'Life Savers'.

NO, I WAS NOT DRUNK!
 
So am I hearing that we cannot paint "kill counts" on the plane anymore?
 
Tantalum said:
I think the dazzle schemes look pretty cool and have a hard time believing that the OPs plane would be any harder to miss then the boring white and beige Skyhawks and Cherokees flying around

Heck, it may even be easier to spot just for the fact that it's so much different

Has anyone here ever had to actually take evasive action to avoid hitting someone?
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Yup. Coming back into Denver Class B from the south. About 20 nm south of FTG, which is 6 nm SSE of DEN, on flight following. FF calls me, rather insistent, to IMMEDIATELY turn east and descend a mere 2 seconds after I started same. Don't know if the little blue taildragger was nordo or not, but sure didn't see me. Glad I saw him. Personally, I really don't like slam dunks at 1500 fpm, plays havoc with my ears.

Of course the route between Denver area and Pueblo is always "fun" with both the USAF Academy cadets busy playing with the Cirri and all the nifty toys they forget to look outside and the USAF IPT at PUB traffic.
 
Next time you see a aircraft fire tanker note the color and pattern, it is a requirement.
 
murphey said:
Yup. Coming back into Denver Class B from the south. About 20 nm south of FTG, which is 6 nm SSE of DEN, on flight following. FF calls me, rather insistent, to IMMEDIATELY turn east and descend a mere 2 seconds after I started same. Don't know if the little blue taildragger was nordo or not, but sure didn't see me. Glad I saw him. Pandersonally, I really don't like slam dunks at 1500 fpm, plays havoc with my ears.
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Same thing happened to me just east of Colorado Springs, I was tooling in Remos with my wife enroute to FTG when approach called for immediate descent. But in my case it was a Centurion! What's worse, he came from my right behind and I was unable to acquire sight until he passed above and I could see him through the windshield. I almost could make out rivets.
 
SkyDog58 said:
Why not? Word is there is a Spirit plane flying around with a hamster painted on its nose.
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We had a Brasilia have a midair with a C172 and took half the horizontal stabilizer off. The C 172 crashed and the two occupants died. The Brasilia made it back to the airport and landed. Captain old retired Navy fighter guy. Repairing it the mechanics painted a C172 silhouette on it. Taken off before it was returned to the line.
 
mscard88 said:
We had a Brasilia have a midair with a C172 and took half the horizontal stabilizer off. The C 172 crashed and the two occupants died. The Brasilia made it back to the airport and landed. Captain old retired Navy fighter guy. Repairing it the mechanics painted a C172 silhouette on it. Taken off before it was returned to the line.
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:eek:

Yeah, that could cause some publicity issues.
 
edo2000 said:
I have, more than once. But I was working in Alaska fish spotting. Occasionally would have quite a few aircraft orbiting the fishing fleet from 300-800 ft agl in a limited area. I do remember one instance of meeting an opposite direction 206 in Merrill Pass(also in AK); we were very near the same altitude. I pushed and turned and when he went by above me, he was not far away. Don't think he saw me.
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We were about 60 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico the day before a big Marlin tournament and we spotted a big weed line, I was at about 1500 feet and as we turned to check it out, we met an Aero Commander head on!! The pilot had a blue shirt and needed a shave!! :eek::eek: We both ended up on the ground in Panama City about the same time and other than the close call, neither of us saw any weed lines! :D:D
 
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