Is this plane really sitting stationary in the air ? Image Credit: YouTube / Mui Rick
Intriguing footage shows an airliner seemingly hovering motionless in the air - but is it just an optical illusion?
This peculiar video was filmed from a moving vehicle and shows what appears to be an airplane hovering just above some nearby trees.
"That plane looks like it's just hovering," the man behind the camera can be heard saying. "Looks like a big one as well. Look at it - for real - it just looks like it's just hovering there."
As the video continues, he winds down his car window to get a clearer look at the plane.
Sure enough, the airliner doesn't appear to be moving, but is it really hovering motionless in the sky or could the peculiar spectacle be little more than an optical illusion ?
"That plane is just flying into a really strong headwind," one user wrote. "It's still getting enough air under it's wings to generate lift, but I'm guessing the pilots just don't wanna give the engines more throttle because they're trying to land."
So while the plane probably is still moving, from the perspective of the moving car, its forward motion is so slight that it creates the illusion that it is sitting still.
One way or the other, it's certainly an interesting effect.
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.
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. Cool... [More]
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 ?
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
Please Login or Register to post a comment.