After coming across a video of a jet that appeared floating in midair but was static, some on social media are convinced they have witnessed a “glitch in the matrix.”
The video was first published on TikTok before being reposted last week on the /Damnthatsinteresting subreddit. It depicts a little prop plane hovering over a suburban street in America in the same location.
Although we are confident that there is a logical explanation, it initially appears to be somewhat strange. Even worse, when you look up the account on TikTok, it is no longer there. We’re not making any suggestions, but it’s an intriguing idea.
Many Redditors commented that this was evidence of a “glitch in the matrix.” One Redditor even claimed, “There’s nothing in this video that demonstrates the answer isn’t aliens,” and we have no idea whether he was joking.
Sorry to ruin the fun. As many people have remarked in the comments, this is a rather common sighting. Despite the confusion of the individual who recorded it, there is a straightforward explanation.
They “used to do this with [their] kids all the time,” the top commenter continues, adding that it is “one of the most exciting things to do in a little prop plane.”
This only requires a fairly strong headwind. You can achieve a groundspeed of 0 kt [knots] by pointing the aircraft into the wind and reducing its airspeed to its lowest achievable level. Flying backward is conceivable if the wind is strong enough.
As others continued to point out, glider planes are specifically engineered to produce such scenes. Gliders, as they are aptly named, have “Without any engine power, it can stay in the air for hours because of unique wings and a tail that capture updrafts. Just a little imagination, wind, and gravity.”
Just picture a bird riding the breeze rather than constantly flapping its wings. If you look at them closely, they both appear cool and a little weird, but they are merely the result of regular physics.
For whoever was flying the banner plane, it may have been an ingenious marketing ploy, but it’s still not conclusive evidence in favor of simulation theory.
