Curvature

I didn't see this in your FAQ.  How do you explain looking at the horizon while flying at high altitudes and being able to see the curvature of the earth?

You can't see any such curvature.

TheEngineer, a pilot who posts on this forum, tells us that the horizon of the earth is not curved from the air.

Quote:

"I believe I said that I put myself through college working for an airline, thus having access to free flights around the world.  I also worked for a private FBO, in which the owner owned a Cessna Citation.  I am also a licensed pilot.  Not once, during any of the hundreds if not thousands of flights I've been on, have I ever witnessed the curvature of the Earth."

http://ian.kluft.com/articles/xprizecup2006/320x213-img_6884.jpg

Do you believe thats real curvature? I think its the camera lens causing a fisheye effect.

http://ian.kluft.com/articles/xprizecup2006/320x213-img_6884.jpg

Seems to be a wideangle lens. People come to this forum and post all types of pictures which are supposed to show curvature. It's pretty clear that the lens type is causing the curvature in the photos most people post on this forum.

An easy test is to do a Google image search for something like "ocean horizon". You'll find that the vast majority of images portray a horizon straight as a razor. Only very few show any curvature to the horizon. If the earth's curvature were actually visible from sea-level it would be apparent in all images. Yet people still post picture here claiming that it's possible to see the earth's curvature from sea level.

The same goes for the horizon as seen from the top of mountains and from the altitude of an international flight. Most images show the horizon as straight as a razor. There are only few which portray some sort of curvature. It's trivial for someone to go on a hunt for curve-images and post a picture here yelling "how do you explain this?!?!", but the argument is nullified by the fact that most images from those altitudes show a flat horizon.

Mathematically it has been shown that one would have to be at 60,000+ feet for the eye to see any detectable curvature to the horizon of a Round Earth. Much higher than the altitude of an international flight.

So you are saying that a picture cannot prove my point, but that I should google some images that will prove your point?

In all seriousness, if you don't belive the earth has gravity, what is holding all of this together? Wouldn't everything just start to crumble in to pieces?

So you are saying that a picture cannot prove my point, but that I should google some images that will prove your point?

The point is that since some pictures show a flat horizon and since some pictures show a curved horizon, even at sea level, it just goes to show that a random image from Google cannot be trusted.

If we go by random images on the internet we'd see that the earth isn't even curved from the summit of Mt. Everest (which is about the height of an international flight):

http://www.panoramas.dk/Fullscreen2/Full22.html
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0207/everest_mackenzie.jpg

In all seriousness, if you don't belive the earth has gravity, what is holding all of this together? Wouldn't everything just start to crumble in to piece

Read the FAQ.

I still fall back on the Golden Gate Bridge...look any point on the bridge in a seaward direction, and you see the curvature from where you are standing all the way to Fort Point at the Southern end of the span.

I still fall back on the Golden Gate Bridge...look any point on the bridge in a seaward direction, and you see the curvature from where you are standing all the way to Fort Point at the Southern end of the span.

That must be a very small earth you live on.

compared to Jupiter...yup.  Try going to the bridge and applying direct observation.  You might be surprised

TheEngineer, a pilot who posts on this forum, tells us that the horizon of the earth is not curved from the air.

Quote:

"I believe I said that I put myself through college working for an airline, thus having access to free flights around the world.  I also worked for a private FBO, in which the owner owned a Cessna Citation.  I am also a licensed pilot.  Not once, during any of the hundreds if not thousands of flights I've been on, have I ever witnessed the curvature of the Earth."

maybe he's blind?

That's a new one, a blind pilot...