Thursday, April 26, 2012

Airplanes That Seem to Hover

Last year I posted an article about the fundamental principles behind how a subsonic aircraft works.  In summary, an airplane takes off once a critical speed is reached: the greater the speed of the wings relative to the air being cut by them, the greater the pressure difference between the air on the top and bottom of the wings, and the greater the lift force.

Now, I would like to address a particular concern about airplanes that some of my students have had.  Have you ever looked up at an airplane, and had the impression that it was barely moving?

Helicopters, hot air balloons, and some supersonic aircrafts possess the ability to hover, but subsonic aircrafts do not.  As already mentioned, the only reason that a commercial plane can maintain a given altitude is because it is moving horizontally with respect to the air around it.

So, what is going on here?  I too have looked up at aircrafts as they descend and have remarked, on occasion, that the plane seems to be moving at a snail's pace.  Sometimes an airplane flies above me as I cruise along the highway, and my impression is that I am in fact moving faster than it relative to the ground.  Is it an optical illusion?  Let us investigate.

Whenever we observe airplanes from the ground, they are always either taking off or landing.  Airplanes typically cruise in the area of ten kilometers above the Earth, and at that distance, we do not try to assess their speed.  It turns out that airplanes do travel much faster while they cruise than they do during ascent or descent.

Jet aircrafts are designed to cruise at a high speed for an obvious reason: to travel great distances in reasonably small times.  Typically, a jet aircraft will cruise in the range of 700 - 900 km/h.  The particular wing cross-section design for a given aircraft determines its cruising speed at a given altitude, which can then fluctuate a bit (for example, more cargo requires a higher cruising speed).  Note that lift is also proportional to air density, which is substantially lower at 30,000 ft than it is at sea level.

It is not desirable to move at a cruising velocity during takeoff or landing for a number of reasons.  A slow approach allows any deviations from the desired course (due to high winds, say) to be handled safely.  Also, the tires would not appreciate rolling along at 800 km/h supporting a five hundred ton vessel.

During both takeoff and landing, airplanes usually travel around 200 km/h.  It is important to note that just as in cruising, there is no vertical acceleration going on.  During ascent, there is a roughly constant upward velocity, and during descent, a roughly constant downward one.  So, as was the case for cruising, the lift force is simply equal to the weight of the plane while taking off and landing (and, of course, the weight of the plane is not changing).  How then is the lift force equivalent during takeoff and landing at about 200 km/h as it is when cruising at 800 km/h?

One reason is the aforementioned higher air density near the ground.  The other is due to wing flaps, which are activated during takeoff and landing.  When the flap is raised, it increases the coefficient of lift associated with the airplane significantly.  So, on account of both higher air density and a greater lift coefficient, you get the same bang for fewer bucks (equal pressure gradient causing equal lift for less relative velocity).

Clearly we are not entirely wrong when we discern that an airplane is travelling rather slowly.  Whenever we observe it, it is moving at about 25% of the value that it cruises at.  Still, it is moving faster than most any land vehicle typically does: about twice as fast as a car on the highway.  Yet, there are times when I look up at such planes and estimate them to be moving at 40 km/h.  There is no question that I am wrong, but what is the source of the optical illusion?  It has to do with distance.

People are good at estimating the size of things that are near them.  The angle swept by our eyes from end to end of an object yields a very accurate measurement for their length.  The accuracy of this measurement decreases significantly as objects move far away.  When objects are very far away from our eyes, the only way in which we can estimate their size with reasonable accuracy is if other objects of known size are near them.

When we observe an airplane, we improperly estimate its size as well as its distance from us.  Furthermore, if the plane is moving away from or towards us, the only way we can try to estimate its speed is by observing the rate at which its cross-section appears to be changing.  Such an exercise turns out to be futile.

If you wish to estimate the speed of an airplane with decent accuracy, independent of its direction of travel with respect to you, you may like to try the following technique...

Pick any fixed object between you and the flight path of the airplane (for example, electric power lines).  Then, with a timer, measure the amount of time that the plane takes to cross that fixed point - that is, start your timer when the nose meets the fixed point, and stop it when the tail leaves it.  Then, simply take the plane's full length in meters (nose to tail) and divide it by your recorded time in seconds.  You'll have measured its speed in m/s.  Multiply by 3.6 for km/h.

If the commercial plane is a 'big one', like a Boeing 747, then its length is about 70 m.  A smaller airplane, with a 100 passenger capacity, is about half that length (35 m).  It is here that our eyes cause us to underestimate airplane speed.  The length of a typical airplane spans half that of a football field, and yet our eyes see them as winged buses moving across the sky.

I used my technique with a mid-sized plane that my senses judged to be moving at 40 km/h.  It crossed a power line in 0.86 seconds (with some error of course).  If it was indeed about 50 m in length, then its speed was (50 m / 0.86 s) about 58.1 m/s or 209 km/h, which is typical for an aircraft on final approach.  If the airplane were only 10 m in length (like a bus), then its speed would have been calculated to be 42 km/h.  This is the calculation our senses make when we misjudge airplanes to be moving at a crawl.

The next time you perceive a plane to be moving oddly slowly, remember that it is as long as a plane, and not a bus.  When it covers its own length in under a second, imagine a football player trying to run half the length of the field in under a second.

In life, we make quick physical measurements on a regular basis.  And, as our assessments are often reasonably accurate, we learn to trust our senses.  The case of the 'hovering airplane' reminds us that our senses are limited.  Favoring reason over gut feeling empowers us to deduce beyond our limited senses and avoid being fooled.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

This only works for commercial jets which appear to be moving a bit slower then someone would expect. There's no explanation for the commercial jets which people have been seeing that appear to be hovering. Many of these are also getting caught on camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu8VOPCI_10 - My brother and I saw something very much like this.

The Engineer said...

Anonymous, I checked out the link. It is impossible to judge from that video as the camera is not at rest.

Anonymous said...

Check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K4fCsVyP-g

There are planes at cruising altitude. One hovers for 13 minutes up there!

Unknown said...

I would like that last comment answered. Bc you seem to have the physics down. I've seen numerous planes actually hover, no movement while being still watching waiting nothing no movement at all like it's hung there for minutes at a time. Then you youtube this and find 'll kinds of videos of the same thing happening. Explain please. I'd like to write it off as natural but as I don't understand the physics related to flight and motion. I can't break that down myself.

The Engineer said...

Anonymous... I could not open the Youtube vid as it was taken down due to copyright law.

Anonymous said...

The 8th and the 11th of December, in CA, I witnessed this unexplained feat while on the 10 Eastbound freeway passing the 15 junction when i saw it in the sky off to my right. It was quite close even. I couldnt tell if it was moving or not as i was driving but it looked big enough to be a commercial plane and close enough to tell that it was extremely slow or flat out hovering. The day after it was gone

The Engineer said...

While an airplane is landing, it is not moving very fast relative to air... Even as little as 200 km/h is not unusual. Let us assume your car was moving at 100 km/h in roughly the same direction as the plane. Then, let us assume a 50 km/h wind against the airplane. Then, the airplane would appear to be moving at a measly 50 km/h (it looks very slow for a plane).

U_Morons said...

Have you ever noticed how all those YouTube videos show this "phenomenon" from a vehicle moving in the opposite direction? I suggest, Anonymous, the next time you witness this from a moving vehicle, stop the car and see if the plane still "hovers". I'll bet you my sweat stained panties it moves. The Engineer explains it so that anyone can understand it yet you morons still question it.

https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/550/1*RxmPeSybIUtxea4Vh98y2g.jpeg

The Engineer said...

To 'U_Morons'... I am leaving your post there despite its disrespectful nature, because I want to reflect on that aspect of it. The only way education happens is if the student gives us permission to enter their minds, where they can critically assess the information. The only way permission is granted is through respect. I have never seen a positive educational outcome through disrespect - it is the wrong approach to any public discourse. Please do weigh in, but do so in a constructive way if you actually want to get your point across.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Anonymous said...

Thanks for a proper answer. When googling this question, I found loads of clearly wrong answers before I found this one!

The Engineer said...

My pleasure anonymous

Unknown said...

To be honest I feel like this doesn't quite explain what I've seen, which is a plane litterally looking like it is stationary in the air while driving in the opposite direction which if anything should accentuate its opposite speed.While I do agree about the fact that human eyes fail to properly measure size of far away objects,I think it also has to do with the fact that the plane is coming closer to the ground, therefore its size relative to you increases, but inread of appearing to accelerate towards you it stays still as it is in actual fact moving away from you. In other words, the image of the increasing plane size balances the image of the plane moving away from you, meaning that even when you are travelling in the opposite direction, it's apparent velocity is cancelled out by its decrease in height

The Engineer said...

I agree with you "unknown", that there are some conditions that are more ideal for viewing (side profile while you are at rest is best). If the plane is very low, and moving towards or away from you, its apparent size is indeed changing while you assess its speed, but it would have to be very low for this phenomena to be appreciable.

josifine said...

Thanks so much! I've always had that question in my mind, oh how I love physics. It cleared it out a lot! You write very clearly and in a simple way, understandable by layman!

The Engineer said...

Thanks for the comment josifine :)

Cillian Cormac said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Unknown said...

I saw one close enough to practically need sunglasses from the reflection of the sun bouncing off the plane. It was hovering. My wife saw it as well.

The Engineer said...

Perhaps wind was travelling at high speed opposite it.

Unknown said...

What is the slowest miles per hour a plane can travel on approach

The Engineer said...

The slowest speed on approach (relative to the wind) should be about 100 km/hr. So, a major counter wind can result in a slow approach.

Unknown said...

I dont understand why people keep questioning it. I live in Cincinnati. Lol. The people commenting from Florence im guessing arent realizing we live by a Airport its called CVG. You are so right people can only being educated through their open permission to allow you to enter their mind. This is really prolific because it works the same if there is bad information or miseducation that would enter the mind. But I think as i get older ..I realize people rather believe their own truths..or something more soothing and settling, possibly a lie? Thanks Engineer for the fundamentals on this matter.
But to be honest what people really wanted to hear is glitch in the matrix, ALF is approaching at hoverspeed,The Russians are preparing attack, the plane realized it was ground hog day, we are in a simulation,..etc����������

The Engineer said...

Hello 'Unknown'...I think people should spend more time trying to understand the matrix before seeking the glitches. That said, spotting actual phenomena that one might call a glitch serves to refine our understanding of the matrix. Regarding the rest of your comment, it has been studied and confirmed that people much prefer their misconceptions than to have to replace them with the laws of nature as we understand them. It is cognitively satisfying to not have to reshape one's world view; this is known as confirmation bias. Thanks for your comment.

wish i didn't know said...

You may have never witnessed the experience folks are asking about, or you may not have taken the time to read the actual question or grasp the gap between the question of why the airplane appears stationary vs the answer to why it appears to be moving slowly (slow and stationary are different). If you are not interested in an answer that aligns with the question, are you only here for to be rude?

The Engineer said...

I am not sure what I have said that is rude, and I am always interested in answers to unknown phenomena. However, until someone points to a plausible study that would explain such things, and given that subsonic aircraft dynamics involves well-known mechanics, it is best to conclude the simplest solution (until another one, verified by experiment is offered).