'Glitch in the Matrix' hovering plane

[UM-Bot]

Recent footage shows an airliner seemingly hovering motionless in the air - but is it just an optical illusion?

https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/337883/glitch-in-the-matrix-as-plane-hovers-motionless

[Timothy]

The clip is at least 2 years old and yes it’s obviously perspective.

Uploaded 14 March 2018:

Edit to add:

Vehicle is traveling South on International Parkway, video starts ~ 32°50'50.3"N 97°02'27.5"W

Aircraft is on a Northerly heading, looks like an A380 on approach for RWY 36L or 36R.

Big aircraft at low speeds are always impressive, especially if perspective is involved.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Timothy
Typo. + Edit to add.

[MissJatti]

Im no expert, but the seems to do, what birds too. Sometimes you see a bird in the air doing nothing not moving or flapping its wings. 

[Timothy]

15 minutes ago, MissJatti said:

Im no expert, but the seems to do, what birds too. Sometimes you see a bird in the air doing nothing not moving or flapping its wings. 

Yes, if there is headwind an aircraft will also have a lower ground speed. Same concept.

With no wind, an A380 would be doing ~260kph on approach. Gear down, flaps extended, generating the lift it needs from wing/control surfaces.

So if you had a 260kph headwind, the aircraft would still be generating enough lift to 'hover'.
If the car was still, and the aircraft also still by perspective, then you could assume that there is a headwind matching the forward thrust of the aircraft.

But this does not happen at low AGL (above ground level) heights because of the turbulence of air close to ground.

Edit: Stable air masses at that speed are only usually possibly at much higher altitudes. You can see the jet streams here:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic

Edited June 30, 2020 by Timothy
Edit.

[ExoPaul]

With a blue clear sky there are no reference points for movement. You can only use the treeline as the reference point to see the aircraft is moving.
But due to the car moving, it causes the near-view trees to move past faster than the speed of the far-distant aircraft and as such it makes the aircraft look like it is not moving.
Add to it, that it seems the road is curving towards and around the aircraft flightpath, it allows the aircraft perspective to rotate and at the same time make it go from a side-to-side perspective, which would have noticeable movement, to a slightly harder movement noticeability where the aircraft is flying away from the camera.

[Duke Wellington]

If you are at an airport watching planes come in from the right place they barely seem to be moving.

The plane in the video is moving and its slowly descending. Its an illusion created from the location of the camera.

[preacherman76]

He should have pulled over. 

[TheFightingHellkitties]

It kinda looks like an inflatable to me.

[micahc]

if i was  a passenger, I would demand my money back.

[jbondo]

5 hours ago, preacherman76 said:

He should have pulled over. 

Hey, that plane looks like it's hovering, but I'm not going to consider all the possible scenarios and pull over to check. I'll just keep moving so we can continue to be confused. Besides, when I upload it, there will be plenty who will think it is in fact hovering, so I don't want to ruin that.

[_Only]

8 hours ago, MissJatti said:

Im no expert, but the seems to do, what birds too. Sometimes you see a bird in the air doing nothing not moving or flapping its wings. 

Yeah, in the right wind a bird can stay wings outstretched and not move at all, just floating like that. It's funny to watch. I remember seeing seagulls doing this.

[acute]

I would describe this illusion (rightly or wrongly) as Inverse Parallax.

[Hankenhunter]

10 hours ago, Timothy said:

Yes, if there is headwind an aircraft will also have a lower ground speed. Same concept.

With no wind, an A380 would be doing ~260kph on approach. Gear down, flaps extended, generating the lift it needs from wing/control surfaces.

So if you had a 260kph headwind, the aircraft would still be generating enough lift to 'hover'.
If the car was still, and the aircraft also still by perspective, then you could assume that there is a headwind matching the forward thrust of the aircraft.

But this does not happen at low AGL (above ground level) heights because of the turbulence of air close to ground.

Edit: Stable air masses at that speed are only usually possibly at much higher altitudes. You can see the jet streams here:
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/250hPa/orthographic

See, there's the rub. I've seen vids with light aircraft doing the same thing 400 feet up. How can a car that's doing 50 mph, overtake a light aircraft? That's what I saw.

Edited June 30, 2020 by Hankenhunter

[Hankenhunter]

 

[Timothy]

 

[Bendy Demon]

As I viewed the video I noticed the aircraft descending as it prepared for a landing. Sure, it appears to be hovering but the craft quickly seems to get 'larger' as it gets closer to the tree line. No 'matrix' just optical illusion.

[OpenMindedSceptic]

Probably explained as a weather balloon

[pallidin]

Well, it is a strong illusion. I live near an airport and have seen this type myself while driving...note, always while driving...

[Peter B]

On 7/1/2020 at 8:39 AM, Hankenhunter said:

See, there's the rub. I've seen vids with light aircraft doing the same thing 400 feet up. How can a car that's doing 50 mph, overtake a light aircraft? That's what I saw.

The aircraft appears to be hovering because it appears to be stationary with reference to something which is stationary on the ground, like a tree or a signpost.

Yes, you're likely to be moving at half the speed of the plane. You and the plane are travelling in opposite directions. But if the plane is twice as far from the stationary object as you are while moving twice as fast as you, then the stationary object will always be directly between you and the plane. Or, if the plane is moving at three times your speed then it has to be three times as far from the stationary object as you are.

On 7/1/2020 at 8:50 AM, Hankenhunter said:

 

Cool, Interesting video.

Planes 2, 3 and 4 are all examples of what I said - the planes are doubtless moving faster than the car but they're much further away from the stationary reference point. The last, on the other hand, probably is actually flying backwards. It's towing a big load of some sort, and the waving tree which occasionally appears at the bottom of the screen shows it's very windy. If that wind is higher than the plane's airspeed, then it's going to be going in reverse. **

The first plane, though, is interesting, and I'm not sure what's going on. The camera itself is stationary, so the effect I described above isn't in effect. There doesn't appear to be much wind, so unless it's extremely windy up where the plane is then wind isn't likely to be a factor. And the film doesn't appear to be slowed down. So in the case of the first plane I'm happy to hear other people's views.

ETA: ** For the last plane I think we could also add the possibility the video is being played backwards.

Edited July 6, 2020 by Peter B

[Peter B]

On 7/1/2020 at 6:32 PM, OpenMindedSceptic said:

Probably explained as a weather balloon

Swamp gas refracted off Venus?

[RoofGardener]

The first one is obviously a freeze-frame; it is from a TV weather forecast. 

The next three are a common illusion when you shoot one moving object from another moving object, when the two objects are on a reciprocal course. 

The last one is.. interesting. I note that the aeroplane appears to be towing a banner of some sort ? 

[Hankenhunter]

Here's another glitch in the matrix video. The last one I can't figure out.

 

[stereologist]

I think the bird image is a bird hanging from something like a fishline. The moving feathers would agree with that idea. The suggestion of a bird perching makes no sense since the bird in question is not a passerine. The bird is possibly an egret or gull, one of the wader birds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerine