I wanted to open a discussion about UAV Pilot Depth Perception.
As I hone my skills, I have come to the very strong conclusion that as a human being, with my eyes only several inches apart, that depth perception falls off dramatically beyond 20-30 feet. My primary reason for bringing up this topic is not for ABSOLUTE depth perception, but rather, RELATIVE depth perception. This is an important distinction.
ABSOLUTE depth perception would be the ability to determine the actual distance from yourself to your aircraft with an acceptable margin of error.
RELATIVE depth perception would be the ability to determine the difference in distance between your aircraft and objects in the foreground and background.
Here is an example....
You are flying at a low altitude (below the tree line) in a large field. The field is surrounded by tall trees. You are standing at one end of the field and the aircraft is at the far end of the field. Let's say 300 feet away. I have found it very difficult to judge the RELATIVE distance between the aircraft and the trees. What might appear to be 20 feet could actually be 100 feet and, vice versa, what could appear to be 100 feet could actually be 20 feet.
Another real life example....
A car is parked at the curb at the end of the street. There is a stop sign behind the car. Is the stop sign 20 feet or 100 feet behind the car?
As I train to become a better pilot, I find PDP to be the most difficult aspect of flying overall. It is a similar effect to the "compression" effect that results from using a very long photography lenses (300, 400, 500, 600mm) in photography. The far field objects and near field objects become compressed so as to confuse the viewer as to the relative distance between them.
I would like to hear you guys weigh-in on this phenomenon and how you have handled it to allow for safe flying....
As I hone my skills, I have come to the very strong conclusion that as a human being, with my eyes only several inches apart, that depth perception falls off dramatically beyond 20-30 feet. My primary reason for bringing up this topic is not for ABSOLUTE depth perception, but rather, RELATIVE depth perception. This is an important distinction.
ABSOLUTE depth perception would be the ability to determine the actual distance from yourself to your aircraft with an acceptable margin of error.
RELATIVE depth perception would be the ability to determine the difference in distance between your aircraft and objects in the foreground and background.
Here is an example....
You are flying at a low altitude (below the tree line) in a large field. The field is surrounded by tall trees. You are standing at one end of the field and the aircraft is at the far end of the field. Let's say 300 feet away. I have found it very difficult to judge the RELATIVE distance between the aircraft and the trees. What might appear to be 20 feet could actually be 100 feet and, vice versa, what could appear to be 100 feet could actually be 20 feet.
Another real life example....
A car is parked at the curb at the end of the street. There is a stop sign behind the car. Is the stop sign 20 feet or 100 feet behind the car?
As I train to become a better pilot, I find PDP to be the most difficult aspect of flying overall. It is a similar effect to the "compression" effect that results from using a very long photography lenses (300, 400, 500, 600mm) in photography. The far field objects and near field objects become compressed so as to confuse the viewer as to the relative distance between them.
I would like to hear you guys weigh-in on this phenomenon and how you have handled it to allow for safe flying....