Yesterday, two planes flew in very close proximity in the skies of Austin. At first glance, you may have thought that this was a dangerous scenario with a potential crash on the horizon. However, plane buffs will have instantly known what was going on. And, once you know the reason for their close proximity, it quickly makes sense. So, what was the situation?

In short, the two planes were performing the act of air refueling in the skies. Sometimes this process is called “air-to-air refueling” or “in-flight refueling” and is typically done by military vehicles as opposed to commercial flights. The best way to identify this is by the stick-like object that is visible behind the first plane. This mechanism is used to transfer the fuel mid-air.

This can be done as a training exercise but yesterday was done as a celebration of 100 years of US air refueling. No, seriously – that’s literally what it was done for which is a bit strange but honestly, that’s why this occurrence happened. On a side note, it’s also impressive that this feat was being done back in 1923 and shows just how advanced the aviation industry was at one point.

This rare sight was spotted above downtown and was confirmed by Flightradar. If you missed it then unfortunately, you may be in for a very long wait until you see something like this again. Unless you live an extra 100 years – and maybe then you’ll be able to see the next anniversary flyover!