It looks pretty terrifying, but there’s a scientific reason behind the phenomenon.
If you saw a plane suspended in the air, unmoving, you’d probably feel pretty terrified. After all, planes aren’t built to do that – they’re not like helicopters – so surely something must have gone wrong.
Well, buckle up – because you need to check out this shocking video that’s going viral…
Parallax Effect
byu/Silent-Lobster7854 inDamnthatsinteresting
The video posted on the subreddit r/Damnthatsinteresting shows just that: a plane that looks to be suspended in mid air over San Francisco – clocking up 36.8K votes in just one day.
It was posted by Redditor Silent-Lobster7854 with the simple caption: “Parallax effect” – but what does that mean?
According to Merriam-Webster, ‘parallax’ is: “The apparent displacement or the difference in apparent direction of an object as seen from two different points not on a straight line with the object.”
So while the plane might seem like it’s not moving, this is actually an optical illusion. It’s being filmed by another plane speeding past, and due to the parallax effect the first plane looks to be stuck.
One Redditor broke it down underneath the video: “The change in observers angle coupled with different speeds of both planes is deceiving depth perception. This is the same reason when trees further away don’t move as far as those closer to the train when looking out the window.”
So sure, there’s a legitimate scientific explanation for this one – but that hasn’t stopped people cracking jokes in the comments section.
And everyone’s making the same gag – namely that this isn’t real life, but rather a video game.
“The pilot had to pause his game,” one Redditor quipped, while another said: “Pilot’s mom said dinner is ready and to pause the game.”
And others are getting even weirder with it, commenting: “Ok so what you’re saying is… aliens?” to which another replied: “I’m not saying it was aliens… but it was aliens.”
While one movie comparison is coming up an awful lot: “I know a glitch in the Matrix when I see one,” a Redditor commented.
Conspiracy theories aside, sometimes it’s just nice to see somewhere you recognize go viral: “Shout out to the Bay Area! That’s the San Mateo bridge.”
