Realism of afterburner glow seen at large distances

[Boris]

Having flown a lot in multiplayer servers recently I noticed the huge effect on aircraft spotting that the afterburner has.

 

Afterburners are visible for 10s of kilometers in broad daylight and allow you to easily spot otherwise almost invisible aircraft.

 

As a result, I tend to use afterburner sparingly for fear of being spotted. Is this realistic tactical behaviour?

 

I highly doubt it. Are afterburners really this visible in real life?

[Eddie]

During the day, no. Should be visible (and quite bright) from behind, but the plume/shock cone should be barely visible in direct sunlight.

 

At night the reheat plumeshould be visible for miles, and especially bright when viewed through NVDs.

 

I think this is a general lighting issue, the same one that makes aircraft lights much less visible than they should be.

[Worrazen]

New HDR technology would improve this a lot, which would make it way more realistic, it would be bright at night indeed.

 

But the cone has to be tight, the lighting should be directional, like one of those LEDs that are super bright if you look at them straight. You'd have to be at an angle to see inside the engine directly, and that shouldn't make it that bright from the ground unless the plane is manouvering a lot.

[probad]

As a result, I tend to use afterburner sparingly for fear of being spotted.

lighting issues aside people online tend to overuse burners. before the update that gave us burner dots everyone would blast around on stage5 all the time.

[Boris]

lighting issues aside people online tend to overuse burners. before the update that gave us burner dots everyone would blast around on stage5 all the time.

 

Still, burner dots shouldn't be seen as a solution to the overuse of afterburner. Especially when merged with an enemy, when you're at your most vulnerable, afterburners are essential, yet you can be easily seen from 20 kilometers away.

 

Overuse of burners, if there is such a thing, is a separate issue. If you need the speed and have the fuel to spare, I don't see it as a problem.