If you ever thought being a pilot was an easy job, think again.
When you board a plane, you put a lot of trust in your pilot to safely get you to your destination. Most of us understand that they don't have an easy job, and it takes years of very expensive training and strict requirements to get a pilot's licence. In fact, you can't even train to become a pilot if you don't meet strict criteria, such as your height and your eyesight.
All these criteria are designed to make sure you're in the best possible condition to be able to fly a plane full of passengers from one airport across the world to another. And while it's a risky job, there are hundreds of thousands of pilots around the globe who do it every single day.
But have you ever wondered what the process of flying a plane actually looks like from their perspective?
Most of us end up falling asleep or getting engrossed in an in-flight movie when we travel by plane, so we don't really take in the full experience of soaring through the air. One pilot on social media has let the public get a glimpse of what it looks like to land a plane - and it's left some people gobsmacked.
Mattias, an A320 commercial pilot, regularly shares videos on TikTok and Instagram depicting his life as a pilot. In one recent TikTok clip, he showed what it looks like when he lands a plane, including exactly what happens when the aircraft breaks through the clouds to come back down to the ground.
The pilot, who uses a fixed-mounted camera to record his videos so he can keep his focus on his job, first showed the clear blue sky the plane was soaring through, with clouds visible below the aircraft.
But as he began to descend through the air, the plane broke through the clouds into foggy weather below. The cloud cover was so thick that the camera couldn't make out any details until the lights of the runway suddenly appeared - as well as houses nearby that seemed far too close for comfort.
Mattias landed the plane perfectly and showed himself steering it to where the passengers disembarked with no issues, but commenters were left "terrified" by what they'd seen.
Some wondered if pilots were just "guessing" where they had to land, as there seemed to be no way to see where they were going, while others said the video sent their "heart to the roof".
One person wrote: "So... you're just guessing?"
Another added: "I know it's their job and what they are trained for but just watching that landing sent my heart to the roof. The speed!! Carrying 1000s of people to safety. God bless all pilots!"
A third posted: "Well, that's even more terrifying than I thought."
Pilots navigate the skies by using a pre-loaded flight plan in the aircraft's computer that connects via virtual GPS waypoints. They use a combination of techniques, including advanced satellite navigation like GPS, ground-based radio beacons, and guidance from Air Traffic Control (ATC) to stay on route.
According to a YouTube video shared by easyJet in 2021, the flight plan creates "virtual signposts" in the sky to guide the pilot in the right direction, telling them if they need to turn. These work even in low visibility, so pilots can safely navigate the skies and land planes even when it's foggy or raining.
