This is how pilots say hello to each other in the air when they pass by

Have you ever wondered how pilots say hello to each other in the air when they pass by?

It turns out that they have their own system for doing so.

Just as car and truck drivers flash their lights, it turns out that airplanes can do that too.

But pilots do it in a very different way – by flashing their landing lights in the sky.

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Pilots can greet each other – by flashing lights

It sort of goes without saying that pilots have an incredibly serious job.

Not only are they in control of an enormous aircraft, but there is a lot more than that.

They are also responsible for the hundreds of lives on board said aircraft.

But that doesn’t mean that pilots can’t have fun either – at the right times, obviously.

An incredible Reddit post went viral over the past weekend.

Airline pilots greeting in the air by flashing lights, is this a thing?
byu/OfF3nSiV3 inaviation

And it captured something you might well have never seen before in your life.

It shows a plane zooming by right below the poster’s aircraft – nothing unusual about that, right?

But as the plane flies by, its pilots do something spectacular – and strange.

The pilots on the passing aircraft flash their landing lights as they pass by.

How exactly can this be done?

At this point, you might be wondering how pilots are able to do this.

Well, it turns out that the action is manufacturer – and model – specific.

The original Reddit post asked:

“Is this a thing?”

“Very rarely, but yes,” the top reply commented, claiming to actually be a commercial airline pilot.

“The Boeings make this easier as the landing lights (what you’re seeing here) on the 737 and possibly other models are set into the wing roots, so you can flick them on like headlights.”

“The Airbus A320 is a bit different, they have to be deployed from under the wing before they can be turned on, which takes around 5 seconds.”

It turns out that, according to the person replying, the delay in producing the lights is not worth it to simply say hello.

Several other comments backed up the opinion on the Airbus deployment differences.

Did you know that pilots could do this? Is it something that you have ever seen for yourself?