what does it sound like to be inside a plane

An airplane takes flight. Creative Commons

More than 20 meg people in the U.S. are afraid of flying. Sitting in a chair that'due south floating in the air may be technologically stunning to some, just that floating-in-a-tin-can feeling puts some passengers on edge and sends their minds racing: Do the flying attendants look worried? What was that bump? And, oh man, what was that dissonance?!

But yous don't have to worry. You're more likely to drown in your ain bathtub than you are to perish in an out-of-control flight. In fact, the last fourth dimension a U.S.-registered airliner had whatsoever fatalities was in 2009.

So unless the audio you lot hear is the flying attendants telling yous to presume a bracing position—which really merely means there's the potential for a problem—everything's most likely O.M. Still, the unknown can exist scary, so we asked Captain John Cox, a pilot who's flown more than than 14,000 hours, to help united states decode all those strange airline sounds.

Here's a non-exhaustive breakdown—by sound—of everything you lot'll hear on a flying and what each of those noises means.

20 Minutes Earlier Takeoff: Two dings in a row, the start a higher tone, repeated twice.
This is an intercom phone call, indicating that one crewmember wishes to speak to another.

15 Minutes Before Takeoff: Unmarried ding.
This is a call from the flight deck (cockpit) to the flight attendants asking them to option upward the phone. (Frequently this ways, delight bring us java.)

10 Minutes Before Takeoff:
A light pound from under the plane, two whirring noises that sound like a drill.
The staff is endmost the cargo hold door.

The sound of heavy wind as the aeroplane begins to taxi to the runway.
The wind racket indicates a alter in the air source. Cox said, "Air is used to start the engines and to absurd and heat the cabin. Therefore, it must exist redirected. Air current dissonance can indicate that the redirection is taking identify."

Rattling and Creaking.
While taxiing or flying, you may hear a lot of rattling from different components of the plane. This is perfectly normal, Cox said. Interior panels and galley components on planes take a bit of room to move around, because they can be inverse out. This causes routine rattles and creaks, like a house settling.

Takeoff: Two quick, loud thumps from under the plane, and a repeated whooshing noise that sounds like a spinning propeller.
The whooshing noise is air from the engines (the air used for the cooling and heating organization) changing as the RPM of the engine increases. The air system needs to adjust for the airflow charge per unit and temperature changes as the airplane climbs. As for the thumps, that's the landing gear retracting.

five Minutes After Takeoff: Ii loud beeps of the same tone.
These beeps allow the flight crew know the plane has reached 10,000 feet. Beneath that height, there'south a regulation that the flying deck but be called for safety-related issues—the audio keeps the cabin crew informed.

5 Minutes Before Drink Service: One loud ding.
This is an intercom chinkle from one flight bellboy to another to discuss the upcoming service.

10 Minutes Before Landing:
2 loud dings of the same tone.
As before, these beeps indicate the plane has reached x,000 feet, this fourth dimension on the descent.

Rumbling dissonance that sounds like the engine is revving upwardly.
This is the slats and flaps being extended on the wings.

v Minutes Before Landing: High-pitched whirring.
This is some other slats and flap noise—information technology's the sound of the hydraulic motor that controls them.

2 Minutes Before Landing: Hydraulic pump sound and a thunk.
This is the landing gear coming out.

Cox too mentioned a rare event that, when it happens, tends to scare passengers. It's called a compressor stall, and it happens when there'due south deposition in the airflow pattern into 1 of the engines. The engine backfires as a event, causing a sound like a shotgun blast, and the plane lurches. Normally everything volition settle right down after, but occasionally this volition happen multiple times in a row before everything stabilizes. It's unnerving and everyone screams, simply Cox says it's yet not a problem—even if that item engine fails, the plane is capable of flying using only the remaining ones. You'll be fine.

"Airplanes talk to you," Cox said. "All y'all have to do is heed. You can tell a whole lot about how the airplane's being flown. It's like listening to your car."

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Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/airplane-sounds-decoded-180961044/

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