Parallax Illusion, Disbelief and Mysterious Hovering Planes

[Z.W. Wolf]

I don't know what the attitude of the person who uploaded this YT Short is. There's a good chance that this is re-uploaded, anyway.

It's the comments section that's interesting. There are 3 basic beliefs expressed in a conversation that's been going on for three years.

-The airliner is flying normally. The hovering illusion is caused by a parallax effect.

-The zero ground speed of the plane is due to a headwind.
A subset explain it as parallax plus headwind.

-The plane is literally hovering motionless above a fixed point on the ground.
Personal stories of seeing a Hovering Plane but different time and place.
Comments hostile to the parallax explanation, sometimes with accusations that people who are putting forth the parallax explanation are stupid.
Accusations that scientists/authorities/whoever are lying to us about these Mysterious Hovering Planes that are being seen all over the country.


The headwind belief is superficially more reasonable, but the Headwind Folk don't seem to realize that there would have to be a category 5 hurricane going on. The Hovering Plane Folk don't intuitively (or logically) understand the parallax illusion, but neither do the Headwind Folk.


Personally I hardly even see this as an illusion. It makes perfect visual sense.


I put this in the UFO forum because of the number of UFO cases that involve a parallax illusion. We're going to get pushback from people who don't understand the parallax illusion intuitively and/or logically.

Also, there seems to be some belief that these Mysterious Hovering Planes are connected somehow to Mystery Drones. Maybe they are Mystery Drones?

I haven't yet looked for other YT videos or further evidence that there's an established (and growing?) belief in Mysterious Hovering Planes.

 

[Mendel]

if this wasn't a cold case, date/time/location and a flight tracker would immediately resolve it

otherwise, be philosophical/epistemological and rephrase the question as
"why does it look like the aircraft is not moving?"
instead of jumping to the conclusion that it's not

 

[Mick West]

location

https://www.google.com/maps/place/T...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI2MDkwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

 

[Mick West]

https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...10_061142_c106844a86e97bf15ac1e52ca1d368a8.js

 

[Trailblazer]

Personally I hardly even see this as an illusion. It makes perfect visual sense.

I agree. It doesn't even look like the plane is "not moving". Simply comparing the relative positions of the plane and the overpass bridge from when you first see them together to the end of the clip shows that the plane is obviously moving forwards.

I've seen much better examples of the "hovering plane" illusion. First one I found with a very quick search:


Source: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/saywmIb-IEI

 

[GM4AJK]

if this wasn't a cold case, date/time/location and a flight tracker would immediately resolve it

otherwise, be philosophical/epistemological and rephrase the question as
"why does it look like the aircraft is not moving?"
instead of jumping to the conclusion that it's not

When I first saw YT videos of this phenomenon, I thought, "parallax," and moved on. Interestingly, one time on the way to our Edinburgh office (train going eastbound), I saw a plane coming in (westbound) to EDI Airport. The angle had it above a distinctive hill with an antenna on top, and there it was, the "hovering plane". I pulled out my mobile, brought up FR4, and tracked it as it landed, watching for almost a minute as it "hung in one place".

My initial reaction was "yeah, looks amazing". On every train journey I've made (not that frequent) as we pass that stretch with the hill, I've checked FR24 to see if anything was landing, and so far have reproduced the effect several times. Sometimes to the left and sometimes to the right of the hilltop antenna.

Next time I'll try to video it (it's quite far away) and then get the FR24 details to reproduce it in Sitrec. I'd also need to get a GPS track of my position over the ground as the train trundles along. But given my experience, and the fact that all these videos are planes coming in to land, it's fairly easy to reproduce once you know what you are looking for.

For those interested, here's a rough drawing of the paths (in red) and the sight lines (in yellow). I am pretty sure the hilltop with the antenna is at Edinburgh Zoo, but on my next trip I'll pay more attention and get the deets (and maybe, if lucky, a video of a "hanger").

I might have a play with Sitrec to simulate my previous observations using a known recent landing plane.

 

[jarlrmai]

I agree. It doesn't even look like the plane is "not moving". Simply comparing the relative positions of the plane and the overpass bridge from when you first see them together to the end of the clip shows that the plane is obviously moving forwards.

To me it's when you use the bridge as the fixed point the plane just doesn't seem to go over the bridge, its because the pivot point is there that I think the illusion would be strong in person.

 

[GM4AJK]

To me it's when you use the bridge as the fixed point the plane just doesn't seem to go over the bridge, its because the pivot point is there that I think the illusion would be strong in person.

A "pivot point" feature certainly makes the illusion stronger, as in my previous post, where a hilltop antenna is the "pivot". But I have also seen a few "hanging planes" videos just in the sky with no obvious pivot feature. The one thing they all have in common is a counter-moving camera.

 

[GM4AJK]

Further to my previous post, here's a Sitrec simulation using a 737 landing at EDI. I found the position the train was at and recreated the "hanging plane". Note: You'll see the plane drift slightly and, as it passes the antenna tower (shown as a pin), go slightly backwards. However, this Sitrec look view is extremely zoomed in. From the train, this motion is imperceptible, creating the hanging-plane illusion.

For those who don't use Sitrec and just want to see, I added an MP4 video to the post.

(edit: The next task is to catch a real one and compare it to this sim)

 

[JMartJr]

The one thing they all have in common is a counter-moving camera.

This us a useful point to raise in discussions of "hovering planes." It will not be compelling to those who are determined to be fooled (or to pretend to ... it is always worth remembering that not everything people post on the Internet is an accurate account of what they believe) but might help prevent some interested-but-not-yet-committed folks from falling into the old rabbit hole.

"Why do planes ONLY hover by moving cars, planes or trains? Why are there no videos where the witness stops the car, gets out and continues to video the hovering plane?" (Of course the danger of asking that is that it is so easy now to make a fake video in AI that will show just that!)

In any case, an interesting flip side to the classic "UFO followed my car" illusion where Venus or the moon seems to be tracking along with a moving vehicle...

 

[Mick West]

Further to my previous post, here's a Sitrec simulation using a 737 landing at EDI. I found the position the train was at and recreated the "hanging plane". Note: You'll see the plane drift slightly and, as it passes the antenna tower (shown as a pin), go slightly backwards. However, this Sitrec look view is extremely zoomed in. From the train, this motion is imperceptible, creating the hanging-plane illusion.

I turned on 3D building and removed some of the trees.
https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...10_151541_2a8a8650b3ab0f0b640452272685897c.js

This gives what old-school video-gamers will recognize as "parallax", the moving of different depth layers at different speeds
https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?cu...10_151541_2a8a8650b3ab0f0b640452272685897c.js

 

[Mick West]

The headwind belief is superficially more reasonable, but the Headwind Folk don't seem to realize that there would have to be a category 5 hurricane going on. The Hovering Plane Folk don't intuitively (or logically) understand the parallax illusion, but neither do the Headwind Folk.

A headwinder commented on X

Source: https://x.com/David_Cassidy3/status/2097986642476687573


However, the video they show is from here:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jz957KRXzQ

Apr 22, 2009

The A330 display at Farnborough 1994. Includes a High-Alpha Pass into a 20kt headwind. If you didn't believe that an Airbus can hover, think again !

The plane is not hovering. It's just doing a low-speed pass into 20-knot winds. High angle of attack and high thrust gives a low groundspeed, but probably still over 80 mph. The A330 is still a large plane.

 

[Mick West]

That said, I did see (for some TV show I was interviewed for) a small banner-towing plane (very low stall speed) that actually appeared to have zero ground speed in a headwind. I can't find it now, but I think it was in a beach city, maybe with skyscrapers like Atlantic City. I set a robot looking for it....

.... and it's done:

 

[Mendel]

Examples of actual hovering

Source: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaIJbF9CB3M/


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Smjda2EDKO4


Note:
* small aircraft
* stationary camera
* strong wind

The "they're lying to you" people assume that the laws of physics are somewhat arbitrary and breakable (and that there's a big coverup about this). It reminds me of the UFOlogists who've proposed that a UFO is only real if it has been observed to break the laws of physics—precisely the same criterium by which we determine that it's not real.

 

[GM4AJK]

I turned on 3D building and removed some of the trees.
https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?custom=1/EdlPlane - trees prened/20260910_151541_2a8a8650b3ab0f0b640452272685897c.js

View attachment 93027

This gives what old-school video-gamers will recognize as "parallax", the moving of different depth layers at different speeds
https://www.metabunk.org/sitrec/?custom=1/EdlPlane - trees prened/20260910_151541_2a8a8650b3ab0f0b640452272685897c.js

I opened the Sitch link you gave, and it looks just like mine, no trees or buildings. I tried to find these options and failed. Asked the AI Assistant to explain to me where these building and tree options were, but it didn't know either, guessing at controls in the Terrain Tab that don't appear to exist. It suggested reading the Terrain help page and gave me a link. In there, it talks about "Controls", and there's a 3D Buildings checkbox. Hmm, not in my menu; it isn't there.

I'll have to come back to it later, as running Sitrec in Edge (it doesn't work in Firefox for me) is killing my laptop; I need to close it and come back later.

I may set up my local version of Sitrec that I had running a while back.

 

[Mick West]

I opened the Sitch link you gave, and it looks just like mine, no trees or buildings.

You need to be logged into Metabunk on the browser you are using for 3D buildings to work.

as running Sitrec in Edge (it doesn't work in Firefox for me) is killing my laptop

What's the spec on your laptop? Have you tried Settings/Performance Preset/Fast?