When Joe and I were en route to Iceland and took our first post-COVID flight (which, as it turned out, wasn’t really post-COVID), MCO –> JFK, we were a little surprised that practically the entire plane burst into applause when we landed.
We’ve gone over the whole “passengers applaud” thing in the past. In fact, the social media guru for MCO’s Twitter (it’s one of our favorite travel-related Twitter accounts ever) even once put it out there: “To those who clap when a plane lands. WHY???” (some of the responses were hysterical)
The MCO to JFK flight wasn’t particularly bumpy or otherwise scary, but nearly everyone still clapped when we felt the “bump” that meant the wheels had hit the ground. I honestly think that people were just genuinely happy to be flying again.
But it did get me to thinking: can pilots even hear when passengers clap at the end of a flight?
So I did some Googling.
One of the first hits I got was a YouTube video made by a pilot, that covered that very topic:
But there were other replies from other pilots, too.
Some say they can hear us clap, some say they can’t. I suspect it’s a “maybe sometimes” situation that all has to do with what kind of plane it is, how thick the security door is between us and, as Captain Joe suggested, how much the pilot and co-pilot are paying attention.
Feature photo: tec_estromberg / flickr
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
