How did this plane stay still in the air?

Question

i was driving to the mall, theres a small airport on the way there and my girlfriend and i look up and theres a airplane flying upwards but it was not moving. i'm sure were not the only people who saw it and were confused because the trucker in front of me at that time almost hit the median he went off the road so far. i know there's got to be some explanation with physics but i still don't think that wind would hold it in place without twisting it into oblivion

Answer 1

You can infact stand in one place while in mid air. If you true airspeed and the headwind component are the same. I have acctualy been demonstrated in my training that you can fly backwards.

Answer 2

My guess is that what you saw was a vtol airplane.  You said it  yourself that it was flying upwards. vtol airplane means vertical-take-off-&landing.  You know like the herrier jets, it can focus the jet engines thrust downwards thus it will take off like a helicopter and hover like a helicopter just by positioning the jet engines thrust downwards.  

    Another explanation is that,  if its not a VTOL plane,  it might be on a holding pattern flight.  You can observe this holding pattern when theres a lot of airplanes landing on a busy airport.  The air traffic controller puts those airplanes on a holding pattern to distance them appart so there would be no collisions until the runway is clear for the next airplane to land. Holding pattern speed is close to stall speed. Stall speed is the speed where the airplanes thrust is not sufficient enough for the wing to give the airplane an upward thrust, and when this happens the plane goes down because the weight is not countered by the upward thrust. Now sometimes, the wind will blow against the direction of the plane thus it look like it stalls but the its still producing enough thrust to counter the weight of the plane.

Answer 3

With no more description than you have given, there is no way to tell what was happening.  Was the airplane taking off, landing, or just passing by?  What type of aircraft was it?  What were the winds like?

There are various angles from which an airplane in flight can appear to be moving very slowly or not at all, when it is actually moving at a normal flight speed, especially in the takeoff or landing phases of flight.

Some ultralight aircraft move so slowly they may appear stationary.  Many other possible factors.  If you can add more information, we might be able to help you.

Good luck!

Answer 4

Sounds as if he may have been climbing into a headwind. Gives the appearance of not moving relative to the ground (and with the right headwind, he may not have been moving, ground speed that is)

Answer 5

A strong headwind in cold weather will make it look like the plane is going straight up vertically and moving barely horizontally.  The truth is that it has to be moving horizontally in order to gain lift.  The strong headwing and the steep angle of attack/attitude on takeoff is probably why it looked like that.

Answer 6

Its ground speed was probably very slow with the wind into it. Probably looked like it was still from your perspective, but it was moving forward, unless it was an 80knot wind or so.

Answer 7

If the plane has a higher amount of thrust then weight it can actually hover like a helicopter. I think thats what you saw. The plane was using its prop just like that of a chopper and hovering. You will see that kind of thing at air shows a lot.

Answer 8

if it was your gf that seen it and told you later i would assume that A, shes a blond and B, it was a poster!!! hope you find out.lol