Airplane speed: Why does it appear slow?

[jrmultimedia]

Have you ever looked from a plane window whilst flying and noticed that the plane hardly appears to be moving? The fact that you may be travelling at 500mph or 600mph doesn't seem to register with the brain... What's happening here - does it have something to do with the height of the aircraft relative to the ground? Can anyone explain this strange phenomenon? Thanks.

[IndieSinger]

Yes, correct. Imagine you're sitting in a car, looking out of the window to the side of you. Look at the road below you and notice how fast it's moving. Now look at the hedge and you'll see it's going slower. Now look at that tree, which is further away and you seem to be going passed it slower still. Keep going until you get to a hill on the horizon and you hardly seem to be travelling passed it at all. It's all relative to the distance you are from it.

[j2buttonsw]

The first time I ever flew on a plane I had a window seat and thought it was going too slow to take off. Luckily the pilot ignored all my screams and the plane took off without further incident.

[jrmultimedia]

Thanks IndieSinger :-)