The term “speedrun” typically applies to beating a video game in record time, or as fast as one can. Now it seems that at least one domestic airline pilot is participating in speedrunning.
A Dec. 30 tweet from the X account @876pilot demonstrated the method. It shows a screenshot of a completed Delta flight from New York’s LaGuardia Airport to Atlanta. The pilot wrote: “54 Minutes Early. My New Domestic Record.”
Arriving nearly an hour early is quite a feat, especially during the holidays. A quote tweet asked: “There’s a f*cking pilot speedrunning community????” Several people in the comments of the original tweet also referenced speedrunning.
“This explains that one time my flight was like 40 min early,” said one commenter. “It haunted me.” As commenters pointed out, this impressive arrival time only works if there’s a gate ready at the landing airport.
But people started bringing up recent flights that also arrived early, wondering if they had a speedrunner pilot.
Can pilots “speedrun” their flights? If they are, it’s not something they’re likely talking about publicly. But there might be something to this, at least for Delta. Last year, two Delta pilots landed a Guinness World Record for flying to 48 states in 48 hours.
Speedrunning as it applies to gaming is still very popular, and you can do speedruns in flight simulator games.
The Daily Dot reached out to @876pilot for comment.