Near Plane Crash over London called Optical Illusion (pics)

[SamSagnella]

Disaster seemed certain when a photographer captured these planes on course to collide over east London. To the onlookers below, the aircraft looked set for a horrific mid-air crash. The cameraman took the pictures of an Airbus A300 belonging to transport firm DHL, which seemed to narrowly avoid flying into the rear of a Japan Airlines Boeing 777. The photographer was in the crowd attending West Ham's home FA Cup match at Upton Park stadium on Saturday. But the Civil Aviation Authority says the incident was an optical illusion and not as dangerous as it appeared from below. A spokesman said: 'It is impossible to tell from the ground how close aircraft are in the air.' For a mid-air incident to be classed a near miss, the planes must be within three nautical miles horizontally or 1,000ft vertically of each other. A DHL spokesman said the company took safety 'extremely seriously' and had investigated the claims. He said: 'In this instance a proper distance between the two planes was maintained at all times.' Experts say the blue skies and sunshine added to the optical illusion as the conditions distorted the perspective of those watching below.






http://www.sky.com/skynews/picture_gallery/picture_gallery/0,,70141-1210748-1,00.html

[feederband]

Wow some illusion...I bet they we having to clean those pilots seats after that...

[TexasStooge]

Unbelieveable!

[Brent]

Geez...

[gtalum]

Wow some illusion...I bet they we having to clean those pilots seats after that...

The point is that the planes were not actually very close together. It's just an illusion caused by foreshortening and a lack of size clues in the sky.

[feederband]

Wow some illusion...I bet they we having to clean those pilots seats after that...

The point is that the planes were not actually very close together. It's just an illusion caused by foreshortening and a lack of size clues in the sky.

These planes were definitely to close for each other...I think someone is just tring to cover their butts...Even if it was a 1000 ft at that rate of speed a little more angle on the lower plane ---way to close...

[gtalum]

These planes were definitely to close for each other...I think someone is just tring to cover their butts...Even if it was a 1000 ft at that rate of speed a little more angle on the lower plane ---way to close...

The planes never set off the TCAS separation alarms. They were never closer than 1000 feet of separation which, despite what you might imagine, is not unusual at all near an extremely busy airport during normal stacking procedures.

[gtalum]

Do you watch baseball games on tv? A similar phenomenon is when you see those camera shots of the pitcher, batter, and catcher taken from way out in center field. They use a very long-zoom lens, much like in these photos. The three players look like they're standing right next to each other because of the lens foreshortening, even though 60 feet separates the pitcher and batter. Imagine that same phenomenon with airplanes (very large) and magnified by a distance of thousands of feet and a much longer zoom. That's why the planes look like they're right next to each other.

[P.K.]

I've seen planes over London far far closer than that, well they looked closer than that anyway. Probably another illusion though.

[Astro_man92]

oh i think that my depth perseption is kicking in

i think i see it the white plane is a comercial jet while the smaller gray airplane may be a private jet

It may not help but really look at the pictures and at the details

[gtalum]

The larger plane is a Japan Airlines 777 and the smaller plane is a DHL Airbus A300 freighter. The A300 is large but still quite a bit smaller than the 777.

[nystate]

The planes were at least 1,500 feet apart. Nothing unusual here...

[ohiostorm]

I see this all the time working at an airport. Very common when theres lots of traffic. The plane on the top looks like a JAL Boeing 767 or 777 and the one below it looks like a 737. With the JAL plane being higher it would make it look like its close in size to the one on the bottom thus making it look like a near collision.

[gtalum]

I see this all the time working at an airport. Very common when theres lots of traffic. The plane on the top looks like a JAL Boeing 767 or 777 and the one below it looks like a 737. With the JAL plane being higher it would make it look like its close in size to the one on the bottom thus making it look like a near collision.

As I mentioned above, it's a JAL 777 and a DHL A300.

[nystate]

Not just any 777, but a 777-300ER, a real beaut of an airplane...