I generally notice this when they are close to the ground, like a few hundred feet into a take-off. I would think that since we are going in opposite directions, it would seem like they are going even faster, like it would with a car driving past on the highway, but for some reason, it makes them seem really slow. ?
In: Physics
It’s likely a kind of optical illusion your brain is making on you. When you look up at the plane, you lose most of not all your reference points on the not moving ground.
And your brain “measures” movement by comparing two objects and finding the relative movement (like how if you have two cars cruising next to each other, looking from one to the other will make it seem like it’s not moving, because relative to each other, they’re not).
So then your brain doesn’t have anything solid to compare the plane against, and even though it’s moving relative to you still, your brain may go “well obviously it looks like it’s moving, it’s bcuz I’m moving in the car, it must just be still like how the trees were passing look like they’re moving but actually still”
The plane is far away and far away objects appear to move slower when they are far away. Also, if you are going in the opposite direction an it is low to the groun then you are not going to see it move up, down, left or right. It will just move straight away wich means it gets smaller. because of perspective, it will not shrink quickly so you may not be able to notice it shrinking. Thus it looks frozen.
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