Why do people clap on landing? It's something I'm noticing more and more, especially with Budget Airlines...have these people never been on planes before? Are they so over-awed that they got there in one piece, or are they just a bit odd? If you clap...why?
2006-08-01 05:39:20 · 50 answers · asked by MRSA+ 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Etiquette
I appreciate that people want to show their thanks to the pilot, but it does get on my nerves. I have more faith in the pilots to get me there without needing to go over the top on arrival. If they are that unsure about flying maybe they should look at different forms of transport.
2006-08-01 07:30:14 · answer #1 · answered by PhoebeR 2 · 3⤊ 3⤋
No, I don't clap and haven't seen or heard anyone clapped when it lands. I haven't been on budget airline flights before though. It is odd to hear people clap.
They clapped might be because they were in one big tour and they cheered up holiday mood for everyone.
2006-08-01 06:58:39 · answer #2 · answered by Sandy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Actually, I think it's something people used to do years ago when airplane travel was less common...they clapped to thank the pilot for a good flight.
I have seen people clap even to this day. Either they are older people that kept up the habit, or they have seen other people do it and find it appropriate.
I have also seen people clap upon landing if it was a difficult flight. People also clap sarcastically on a rough landing.
2006-08-01 05:45:42 · answer #3 · answered by MDPeterson42 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I flew Turkish Air many years ago and they capped on landing. This is a cultural thing and often focused towards certain older cultures where air travel used to be unusual for lower income social class. Clapping on arrival of your homeland in some cultures is common. Clapping when your pilot lands in really bad weather is a sign of "well done" to the crew (this can happen to western airlines!)
2006-08-01 05:49:34 · answer #4 · answered by sime 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have clapped as a plane landed maybe three times in my life. One I definitely remember was after a long, slow, straight-in approach to O'Hare from Paris during a terrible windstorm, the day that a sheet of glass was blown off of the Hancock building and killed a woman below. I was in an Air France A340, doing barely 140 knots, and bumping around like mad, and the pilot must have been doing all he could to keep us on the approach, wrestling against the turbulence and gusts. It was a great landing, and he deserved an ovation.
Another one I remember was when there were serious crosswinds and I was coming in on a MD80. During some gusts, we were approaching the runway at almost a 45 degree angle. That took some serious tap-dancing on the rudders by the pilot to bring us in safely, and he got a well-deserved applause as well.
2006-08-01 05:48:14 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Clapping when an aircraft lands can be a result of many things. 1. Relief that you have landed safely.
2. A very vibrant, jolly bunch of passengers.
3. Reaching a holiday destination (whey, were here!)
4. Drunken passengers or...
5. Totally **** scared passengers who are glad to be on the ground after a 10 hour flight from the USA!
2006-08-01 05:44:23 · answer #6 · answered by chapers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They clap? Maybe it's a Budget Airline thing, but the people on Southwest never clap. It's a flight for gosh sakes, not a Broadway show!
2006-08-01 05:43:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I've been on planes where people have applauded a landing. It gets me REALLY worried - what did they know that I didn't? Did we really cross the Atlantic with 3 of the 4 engines on fire? Did the pilot really overpower someone in the cockpit? Did the tail fin really fall off midflight killing everyone but the people in my section?
Then again, there might be a private gig going on in First Class - a sort of cabaret thing.
I don't clap pilots for landing a plane. I don't get applause for doing my job - I get paid instead. And I know which I prefer ;-)
2006-08-01 05:47:17 · answer #8 · answered by izzieere 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't you realize? they are clapping because they have just woke up from an exhausting dream!
A dream about the plain and there was this song that saved them and made them land properly. OBVIOUSLY it was the music they were listening they were listening to!
And anyway the plain juttered when it landed and all the passengers woke up and all clapped because of the people singing the music hade saved them. Opodasly!
2006-08-01 06:14:12 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have been a plane entusiast for about 10 years and i have never seen people clap when a aeroplane lands.
2006-08-01 05:43:08 · answer #10 · answered by ? 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
they are most probably flying in a clapped out plane with an airline on a shoe string with the pilot on his first command,with his cap round the wrong way the oxygen masks have come down, the trolley dollies are flapping, no wonder they riot their not clapping, they couldnt believe they were going to make it all in one piece, would you? oh one of the bloody tyres have just blown, and the fuel tanks are almost empty, and there's a funny smell as you slide down the emergency shute,eventually you get to customs and he does you for excess duty free, your feeling really elated by now, and you think back to that hotel, that does it all, i swear i'll never ** ** * ****** *****
2006-08-01 06:04:37 · answer #11 · answered by srracvuee 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋