Bryan Habana Races Plane: Man Triumphs Over Machine As South African Rugby Player Outruns Superjumbo [VIDEO]

Racing a plane? No problem if you're Bryan Habana.

Earlier this month, Mexican researchers revealed the breathtaking physics behind sprinter Usain Bolt’s performance at the World Championships in Berlin, where the Jamaican athlete covered 100 meters in 9.58 seconds –– shattering the world record and triumphing against a slew of aerodynamic hurdles.

Now, Sports 24 reports yet another baffling performance — this time by Bryan Habana, a South African rugby player. In a video released this week, the 30-year-old Western Province wing accomplishes the impossible by racing a commercial jet –– and winning.

Habana, who famously raced a cheetah in 2007 to raise public awareness of endangered species, accepted a seemingly impossible challenge when he agreed to take on the British Airways vessel in a 100 meter race.

"‘It was a tough test of man versus machine. Once the A380 is on full throttle it picks up speed very rapidly, but you need to tune in to the video to see what happened next,” Habana told reporters.

"Habana is fast but had stiff competition with four Trent 900 Rolls-Royce engines, each one producing 70 000 pounds of thrust and accelerating very quickly indeed. We got airborne at 140 miles an hour, where we then flew up to 600 miles an hour,‘' said Peter Nye, a Senior First Officer with the airline company.

From a statistical perspective, the win makes even less sense.