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macintologist · Sep 17, 2005, 03:29 AM

One thing that shocks me about flying inside the United States is that passengers never applaud the pilots upon landing.

I challenge any person who thinks clapping on the airplane is stupid to open a flight simulator on their computer and attempt to properly land a commercial jet aircraft on a runway. They will all fail. Even an experienced propellor aircraft pilot would struggle or fail miserably on the first attempt. This is a skill that takes years of training and it doesn't help when you as a pilot know that if you screw-up, you're taking every passenger on board with you.

For this reason, I believe every successful landing should be applauded by the passengers, not only because although the performance was routine, it was also incredible, but also because landing a plane on a perfect angle of descent is almost like an art. What it would take to understand...

Ozmodiar · Sep 17, 2005, 03:33 AM

I thank the pilots and crew on my way off the plane. I feel that's adequate.

OreoCookie · Sep 17, 2005, 03:38 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

One thing that shocks me about flying inside the United States is that passengers never applaud the pilots upon landing.

I challenge any person who thinks clapping on the airplane is stupid to open a flight simulator on their computer and attempt to properly land a commercial jet aircraft on a runway. They will all fail. Even an experienced propellor aircraft pilot would struggle or fail miserably on the first attempt. This is a skill that takes years of training and it doesn't help when you as a pilot know that if you screw-up, you're taking every passenger on board with you.

For this reason, I believe every successful landing should be applauded by the passengers, not only because although the performance was routine, it was also incredible, but also because landing a plane on a perfect angle of descent is almost like an art. What it would take to understand...

I also don't applaud my cab driver for bringing me home safely. He gets a thank you and a tip. Clapping is stupid.

mojo2 · Sep 17, 2005, 03:40 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

One thing that shocks me about flying inside the United States is that passengers never applaud the pilots upon landing.

I challenge any person who thinks clapping on the airplane is stupid to open a flight simulator on their computer and attempt to properly land a commercial jet aircraft on a runway. They will all fail. Even an experienced propellor aircraft pilot would struggle or fail miserably on the first attempt. This is a skill that takes years of training and it doesn't help when you as a pilot know that if you screw-up, you're taking every passenger on board with you.

For this reason, I believe every successful landing should be applauded by the passengers, not only because although the performance was routine, it was also incredible, but also because landing a plane on a perfect angle of descent is almost like an art. What it would take to understand...

And who was it on these boards that scoffed at the complexity of the 9/11 attacks?

But, then again, they didn't have to land the things...

Randman · Sep 17, 2005, 03:42 AM

I've heard people clapping on US flights, but usually it's half-relief (if very turbulent) or half-sarcastic (a bumpy landing).

Besides, you don't clap after a doctor is done, do you? Or a talented lawyer? Or even a wonderful meal by a chef.

And what about a flight attendant who does a great job?

If you are grateful, you can tell the pilots personally.

E's Lil Theorem · Sep 17, 2005, 03:45 AM

This reminds me of that episode of Seinfeld where he's discussing pilots and how good or bad they are. Basically, he concludes that all pilots are at least "good" pilots. Some may be better than others, but the general public is unlikely to ever find this out.

Also, landing is probably the first thing on their job description. So, do they really deserve an applause when they do what it is they're suppose to do? Maybe. I mean, we applaud every time X player hits a home run or Y player scores/throws a touchdown.

Personally, I assume I'll land just fine. I don't really think about or hope that the pilot lands the plane fine. It's almost a given for me. Hopefully one of them wont prove me wrong any time soon

iMOTOR · Sep 17, 2005, 03:51 AM

It takes countless air hours to learn how to land, true. But there's something weird about giving applause to a landing, as if it were the end to a stage performance. Besides, if the cockpit door is secured properly, the pilots probably can't hear you applause anyway.

Demonhood · Sep 17, 2005, 03:51 AM

i would never clap after a landing. it would seem like i was applauding the fact that they didn't kill us all. a kind of "ha. thank god we're safe. you get applause for not crashing us into a mountain."

at least that's how i'd perceive it if i were a pilot.
but maybe i'm just a jerk.

OreoCookie · Sep 17, 2005, 04:06 AM

Originally Posted by Demonhood

i would never clap after a landing. it would seem like i was applauding the fact that they didn't kill us all. a kind of "ha. thank god we're safe. you get applause for not crashing us into a mountain."

at least that's how i'd perceive it if i were a pilot.
but maybe i'm just a jerk.

Nah, that's the way I see it, too. Unless we're both jerks, that is

Randman · Sep 17, 2005, 04:34 AM

I dunno. I've flown across the US, to Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia a number of times and very few times has anyone clapped. Maybe in places like China and Vietnam when you're happy to have survived the flight.

11011001 · Sep 17, 2005, 04:39 AM

Originally Posted by Randman

I've heard people clapping on US flights, but usually it's half-relief (if very turbulent) or half-sarcastic (a bumpy landing).

Besides, you don't clap after a doctor is done, do you? Or a talented lawyer? Or even a wonderful meal by a chef.

And what about a flight attendant who does a great job?

If you are grateful, you can tell the pilots personally.

First of all, clapping isn't done on an individual basis. It's a group thing.

Second, one should really be grateful. Except for the doctor, ones life wasn't wasn't in the balance. It's on a completely different level, and I feel the above anology is flawed.

In any case, I feel like feces after a 12 hour flight, so I always find it amazing that these people were still l able to do their jobs and even have a smile on their face.

Anyways, it's a good idea, but I don't think i would have the guts to start clapping. I don't think anyone would really understand why I was doing this.

Nivag · Sep 17, 2005, 05:18 AM

they get paid to do a 12 hour flight and have a smile on their face at the end.
no one ever claps me after i've work 12+ at work. i may get a thank you/good job, but defo no clapping.

Goldfinger · Sep 17, 2005, 05:30 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

One thing that shocks me about flying inside the United States is that passengers never applaud the pilots upon landing.

I wish that no one ever clapped after any flight. If I were a pilot I would take it as an insult. It's like "ooh let's clap because you did an adequate job and didn't kill us".

mojo2 · Sep 17, 2005, 05:32 AM

http://www.boeing.com/commercial/safety/pf/faq.html

Top
Are some parts of a flight more at risk?
Some parts are riskier than others, although none are anywhere near as risky as many of the other things people do regularly (like drive a car).

Airplane travel consists of three phases:

Takeoff and climb.
Cruise.
Descent, approach and landing.
Looking at accident rates for each phase, cruise is the safest part of flying. Only about 6 percent of all accidents occur during this phase. Approximately 35 percent of all accidents occur during takeoff and climb. Nearly 60 percent of accidents occur during descent, approach and landing.

Because so few accidents occur during cruise, long flights are not significantly riskier than short ones. If anything, a single, long, nonstop flight is safer than multiple short flights.

timmerk · Sep 17, 2005, 05:52 AM

Most large commercial planes now can land themselves, or do 99% of the work. Most pilots do not use this feature, because it would be boring, but hey, if it can do it by itself, why clap? Do you clap when a relay fires on it's own, instead of a human hand moving a switch?

mojo2 · Sep 17, 2005, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by timmerk

Most large commercial planes now can land themselves, or do 99% of the work. Most pilots do not use this feature, because it would be boring, but hey, if it can do it by itself, why clap? Do you clap when a relay fires on it's own, instead of a human hand moving a switch?

Yeah, I heard the airlines are going to reduce the size of the crews to just the flight attendants. That way they can avoid banruptcy by not having to pay so many big salaries to the pilots. The planes can essentially take off and fly and land themselves. Like you see the drones do in Afghanistan and the M.E. And to prevent hijackings they'll put an electric force field in the cockpit that only one of the flight attendants has the combination to arm or disarm the system, but none of them knows which one of them has the right combination. That way the terrorists won't know who to keep alive and who to kill and that will give the flight attendants a chance to overpower the terorists. But if the terrorists get into the cockpit the motion sensing death rays will zap them and then procede like nothing happened, to the regular destination and land and the CSI clean-up team comes in and gets the plane ready for the next trip.

AKcrab · Sep 17, 2005, 07:26 AM

Originally Posted by Demonhood

i would never clap after a landing. it would seem like i was applauding the fact that they didn't kill us all. a kind of "ha. thank god we're safe. you get applause for not crashing us into a mountain."

Actually, these are the times where I HAVE seen people cheer the landing. Once the plane got hit by lightning, everyone cheered upon landing. Another time, turbulence was *extreme* and the landing was rough, but spontaneous cheer erupted. But you're right, it was more a cheer of relief than anything else.

The Placid Casual · Sep 17, 2005, 07:28 AM

People always clap on Italian airliners, especially 'Alitalia'. Took me by surprise at first as I have never heard it elsewhere.

Seems fair enough to me though!

Mastrap · Sep 17, 2005, 08:02 AM

The people who clap on landing are the people who don't fly on a regular basis.

rozwado1 · Sep 17, 2005, 08:32 AM

To me, it's like clapping at a movie.

Idiotic because the movie directors/pilots can't hear you.

amsalpemkcus · Sep 17, 2005, 08:53 AM

Womyn clap. Myn want get hell out.

jlfspook · Sep 17, 2005, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by amsalpemkcus

Womyn clap. Myn want get hell out.

Is "womyn" the new "Ha! Ha!"?

BlueSky · Sep 17, 2005, 10:17 AM

Originally Posted by macintologist

One thing that shocks me about flying inside the United States is that passengers never applaud the pilots upon landing.

For some reason, the idea of applauding a safe landing brings to mind the phrase "tempting fate." Not sure if that's the appropriate reaction, but in any case, you are scaring me.

broxy5 · Sep 17, 2005, 10:35 AM

I don't like it when people clap. Most people don't know the didfference between a good landing and a bad one. For that matter, most pilots (unless it was a really bad one) couldn't give a rat's @ss what the landing was like. It's just another landing. It's not really that hard to land a plane after you've started from small singles and progressed slowly up (whatever). Your average Joe firing up M$ flight sim and choosing the 747 is naturallly going to crash.

Mastrap · Sep 17, 2005, 10:38 AM

One more thing: A soft landing doesn't mean a good landing. Especially in bad weather pilots habitually drive the plane down hard to make sure the tires make proper contact with the runway.

stevesnj · Sep 17, 2005, 10:39 AM

I got the 'clap' on a plane...thats the only clapping type thing i ever done on a plane.

Mister Elf · Sep 17, 2005, 10:55 AM

And you can always tell if there's a Navy- or Air Force-trained pilot at the controls during bad weather. The Air Force pilot will be really shaky coming in, and may scare the crap out of everyone on the plane, but the landing will be nice and smooth. The Navy pilot will drive in hard and fast, without much hassle, but that plane will slam down on the deck hard.

dreilly1 · Sep 17, 2005, 11:04 AM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

The people who clap on landing are the people who don't fly on a regular basis.

That's the impression I get, too. I've been on a few flights in the U.S. where people clapped on landing, but these have mainly been to tourist destinations (i.e. Orlando). When I've flown to a place with more business travellers (i.e. San Jose), people are less impressed when the plane makes a safe landing. I've flown to JFK and LaGuardia the most times in my life, and not only do people not clap when they land, they're likely to start gathering their carry-ons from the overhead bins while the plane is still taxi-ing....

tracemhunter · Sep 17, 2005, 11:06 AM

i only clap on landing if i am certain the pilots are drunk. so basically i clap every time i fly.

Randman · Sep 17, 2005, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by Mister Elf

And you can always tell if there's a Navy- or Air Force-trained pilot at the controls during bad weather. The Air Force pilot will be really shaky coming in, and may scare the crap out of everyone on the plane, but the landing will be nice and smooth. The Navy pilot will drive in hard and fast, without much hassle, but that plane will slam down on the deck hard.

That's interesting to know.

One caveat: I think it's ok to clap when you land in Vegas. Other than that ...

cpt kangarooski · Sep 17, 2005, 11:25 AM

11011001--

Besides, you don't clap after a doctor is done, do you? Or a talented lawyer? Or even a wonderful meal by a chef.

Second, one should really be grateful. Except for the doctor, ones life wasn't wasn't in the balance. It's on a completely different level, and I feel the above anology is flawed.

That depends on what you needed the lawyer for.

Mastrap · Sep 17, 2005, 12:34 PM

Originally Posted by Mister Elf

The Navy pilot will drive in hard and fast, without much hassle, but that plane will slam down on the deck hard.

Once a carrier man, always a carrier man?

Lancer409 · Sep 17, 2005, 02:41 PM

crap! it's raining down hard, i'm coming in hot... i dont know if the hook is enough this time. Deploy the net!!! lol

Pendergast · Sep 17, 2005, 02:48 PM

Originally Posted by Demonhood

i would never clap after a landing. it would seem like i was applauding the fact that they didn't kill us all. a kind of "ha. thank god we're safe. you get applause for not crashing us into a mountain."

at least that's how i'd perceive it if i were a pilot.
but maybe i'm just a jerk.

Some people applaud when dishes are dropped on the floor.

Maybe we should applaud when crash landing?

Pendergast · Sep 17, 2005, 02:53 PM

Actually, having flown in the Arctic and often in 0-0 conditions and high speed winds, aboard Twin Otters, the need for clapping is always strong even during the flight.

broxy5 · Sep 17, 2005, 02:57 PM

Originally Posted by Pendergast

Actually, having flown in the Arctic and often in 0-0 conditions and high speed winds, aboard Twin Otters, the need for clapping is always strong even during the flight.

ex-Borek guy living in.....Victoria?

Pendergast · Sep 17, 2005, 03:05 PM

Originally Posted by broxy5

ex-Borek guy living in.....Victoria?

Nope. Kuujjuaq and Inukjuak.

sek929 · Sep 17, 2005, 04:08 PM

Building a house takes skills that come out of years and countless hours of training.

Do wee really need to applaud people for completing a task they were trained to do?

macroy · Sep 17, 2005, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by macintologist

I challenge any person who thinks clapping on the airplane is stupid to open a flight simulator on their computer and attempt to properly land a commercial jet aircraft on a runway. They will all fail. Even an experienced propellor aircraft pilot would struggle or fail miserably on the first attempt. .

So the next time I'm on a plane - and someone else other than a TRAINED pilot lands the plane... I'll be sure to give him/her a standing ovation. Until then, the pilot (and the steward/ess) gets a polite "thank you" from me on my way out.

ironknee · Sep 17, 2005, 04:24 PM

taking the time to post on mann, i applaud you all!

Kerrigan · Sep 17, 2005, 04:39 PM

It's a cultural thing. Barbaric, unsophisticated people like the Italians always clap at the end of a flight, but in Britain (and America) people don't feel the need to celebrate.

If people in America did clap after flights, then Macintologist would start some thread griping about how noisy and unruly Americans are after they clap on a plane.

loki74 · Sep 17, 2005, 05:18 PM

Originally Posted by 11011001

In any case, I feel like feces after a 12 hour flight, so I always find it amazing that these people were still l able to do their jobs and even have a smile on their face.

I wouldn't claim to know... but one could infer that getting paid to do so helps?

But don't get me wrong, pilots do have a difficult job. Lives are in their hands. But I think that doctors are taken for granted much more than pilots are.

brapper · Sep 17, 2005, 05:32 PM

I've American and international airlines and have never heard a clap upon landing.

Could be a great opportunity for a slow clap tho.

awaspaas · Sep 17, 2005, 06:21 PM

How many times does the pilot actually land the plane anyways? Doesn't the instrument landing system usually do it?

chabig · Sep 17, 2005, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by awaspaas

How many times does the pilot actually land the plane anyways? Doesn't the instrument landing system usually do it?

No. Your pilot probably lands the airplane 99 times out of every 100 landings...perhaps slightly more.

mojo2 · Sep 17, 2005, 07:21 PM

Originally Posted by chabig

No. Your pilot probably lands the airplane 99 times out of every 100 landings...perhaps slightly more.

My satire was lost on awaspaas.

glideslope · Sep 17, 2005, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

One more thing: A soft landing doesn't mean a good landing. Especially in bad weather pilots habitually drive the plane down hard to make sure the tires make proper contact with the runway.

Actually, spoiler deployment upon landing ensures a good footprint.

glideslope · Sep 17, 2005, 07:24 PM

Originally Posted by awaspaas

How many times does the pilot actually land the plane anyways? Doesn't the instrument landing system usually do it?

Depends on who you work for.

glideslope · Sep 17, 2005, 07:26 PM

Originally Posted by tracemhunter

i only clap on landing if i am certain the pilots are drunk. so basically i clap every time i fly.

Most of the time the pilots are certain those who clap are drunk.

isao bered · Sep 17, 2005, 07:33 PM

Originally Posted by Kerrigan

It's a cultural thing. Barbaric, unsophisticated people like the Italians always clap at the end of a flight, but in Britain (and America) people don't feel the need to celebrate.

heh. i don't see how celebrating being alive is barbaric and unsophisticated. ;-)

granted, it did strike me as odd the first time i landed in an italian airliner. however, after experiencing the culture for several years it actually made perfect sense - in that wonderfully italian sort of way. ;-)

here's hoping i can get back soon...

be well.

laeth