Featured Image Credit: colemayo2/TikTok
When you're sitting on a plane, it's pretty much impossible to tell how fast you're moving.
After all, you're just sat watching endless movies, with only the odd bit of turbulence to remind you that you're actually soaring through the air.
Well, a viral TikTok video has demonstrated just how fast planes actually go - and it's blowing everyone's minds.
Alabama-based real estate agent Cole Mayo (@colemayo2) posted a video from the cockpit of a plane, with the caption: 'What it's like passing a plane going the opposite direction with 1000 foot separation (video is not sped up)."
Mayo says in his TikTok bio he's a 'USAF Boom Operator' - meaning he's tasked with transferring fuel from one military aircraft to another during flight.
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That probably explains how he was on a plane that almost certainly doesn't look like your average easyJet flight.
At first, the video seems pretty serene - a beautiful view of the clouds from above. But then, all of a sudden, a plane zooms below, zipping past at an unbelievably rapid speed.
Judging from Mayo's hashtags, it looks like he could be on a KC-137 - a type of jet typically used in the military as tanker transport - and the plane flying below is likely a C-130 military transport plane.
According to the Air Force, the different models of the C-130 have a speed of between 345 mph and 410 mph - it looks ridiculously fast in the video, but compare that to the cruising speed of a Boeing 747, which is around 570 mph.
Mayo's video gives a unique view that few of us will ever get - because he looks to be on a military aircraft as opposed to a commercial jetliner, he's able to get really close to another plane.
Since the video was posted in early March, it's racked up nearly 700k likes, with the comment section blowing up as people voice their disbelief.
"It's crazy because when you're actually inside a plane it feels so slow," one TikToker commented.
While another added: "Are all planes flying that fast????"
A third was similarly mind-blown, writing: "It's crazy to me how these huge things are just in the air" - which is something we actually don't want to think about too hard, to be honest.
While most people can't believe their eyes, one person was a voice of reason, explaining: "That's reactive velocity for you. If both planes are moving at 500 mph, you experience the other plane moving at 1000 mph."
