‘Magic’ Helicopter Flies Without Spinning Blades: What’s Going On?

The video of a helicopter lifting off and flying with its rotor being motionless has a simple explanation.

(Photo: YouTube/Chris Fay)

Do you think a helicopter can just rise above the pad without any movement of the blades? Well, this helicopter appears to magically lift itself off and then fly like a feather as if moving with the wind’s force.

But make no mistake, this is an optical illusion. Watch the full video and look out for any difference right before the helicopter exits the frame.

This is what happens when the ‘camera shutter speed matches helicopter’s rotor,’ Chris Fay, who posted the video on YouTube, wrote.

How it works?

A faster shutter speed and frame rate (fps) have long been used to create motion blur in images and videos. Here’s a video to explain how the camera can trick us when helicopter blades are concerned.

The shutter speed is so high that it eliminates any motion blur. The blades are rotating at a speed that matches the frame rate of the camera, placing them in the same position in every frame which creates the ‘floating’ effect.

This is not the only illusion that the cameras can create.

So the next time you see fast-moving objects on video moving backwards or distorted into funny S-shapes, you know what happened.