What environmental condition benefits most from a synthetic vision system?

A synthetic vision system (SVS) significantly enhances situational awareness for pilots, particularly in conditions of low visibility. In these scenarios, traditional visual cues are diminished, which can make navigation and obstacle avoidance challenging. SVS utilizes a combination of data inputs from the aircraft's sensors and terrain mapping to create a virtual representation of the environment outside the cockpit. This provides a clear view of the terrain, obstacles, and other critical flight information, effectively helping pilots to "see" the landscape even when the actual visibility is poor due to factors like fog, rain, or darkness.

While clear weather allows pilots to rely on natural visual references, and cloudy skies can limit visibility but not to the same extent as severe low visibility, the real advantage of an SVS shines when conditions are most challenging. High altitude might provide better visibility overall, but it does not leverage the full capabilities of an SVS the way low visibility conditions do, where the enhancement of situational awareness is paramount for safe operation.