We are approaching this from the idea that we do not know what the earth is. But we do know that there is a horizon. Therefore any model should support the existence of the horizon. If you are designing a Flat Earth model, you must include the capability of a horizon, since the existence of the horizon is reality.
Yes, Tom - you are 100% correct. But the FE model that you propose doesn't "
include the capability of a horizon" (without bending light)...and you, personally, are "
designing a Flat Earth model" that
does not include the capability of a horizon. In fact, you say so yourself further down this very same post that I'm quoting! You have to rely on atmospheric attenuation in order to explain why I can't see Mount Everest glowing brightly above the horizon at midnight from my back yard here in Texas. That's because you could otherwise see forever across a flat, infinite plane.
If you are attempting to draw a Flat Earth model you must include the capability of a horizon, since the existence of the horizon is the empirical reality.
You can't just pick and choose how and what you want to include in your model. The horizon exists and must be included.
Huzzah! Tom finally gets it!
The Flat Earth model certainly doesn't include the possibility of a horizon...so it's
WRONG.. Quod erat demonstrandum...game, set and match.
The higher you go the farther the horizon would be, but unfortunately you do not listen very well. The atmosphere is not perfectly transparent. At extreme altitudes, such as from a military fighter jet in your example, you cannot see all the way to where the horizon would be due to the opacity of the atmosphere. The true "horizon" at very high altitudes is farther than what you see.
You can tell that this is happening because at high altitudes where the artificial horizon on a plane's instrumentation is above the observable horizon, the horizon is no longer sharp or defined, and is seen as a gradual gradient. It should be no surprise, then, under such conditions basically absent of a horizon that the artificial horizon would be above the level of the land.
It's convenient that you mention this - so you're admitting that in your FE world, the "horizon" can't be seen because it's fuzzed away by the atmosphere.
YOUR MODEL DOESN'T HAVE A WELL DEFINED HORIZON...which is why you use the words: "you cannot see all the way to where the horizon would be due to the opacity of the atmosphere."
When you view the earth from sufficiently high altitudes, the atmosphere is so thin that it doesn't block much light and you can see the horizon very clearly...and it doesn't stretch off to infinity. You can't see a brightly lit Mount Everest from a high altitude balloon over Texas either.
This is what we've been telling you!
It's *YOUR* model that I'm drawing diagrams of! If the diagram doesn't work then it's because YOUR MODEL is broken.
MY MODEL is of a round earth - and the horizon is just the point where the curvature of the globe is at a tangent to my sight line...my model works just fine with the diagrams I draw - and there is a horizon that you can see clearly on a clear day.