"George Patterson" wrote in message news:kFotf.2261$uv.1145@trnddc06...
Distant lights on the ground often create a "false horizon" at night.

I was flying back to Houston from Oshkosh a few years ago... I was somewhere
over Arkansas at the time... The lights on the ground gave me the impression
that there might be mountains around there... I was on flight following at
the time, so I asked what the maximum height of the Ozarks were around
there... The controller informed me that I was nowhere near the Ozarks and
there was no mountains that would be at my altitude... Very strange visual
effect...