# Can people tell commercial airliners apart by their sound? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 12, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845 "2019-05-12T02:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/1 "2019-05-12T02:49:33Z")
Odd question, I know, but what else is this place for? I’ve heard that you can tell some planes apart from each other by sound - the distinctive engines of the Hornet are supposed to be distinguishable from those of Tomcats and F-15s to those who have been around those aircraft a lot. But what about commercial airliners? I live a few miles from a major airport now, and there are definitely times of day when the engines sound louder/different; but I’m not sure if that might have to do with flight paths, prevailing winds, atmospheric conditions, competing sounds from the city, or the timing of when particular wide-body large airliners tend to take off and land during the day. So that led me to the question - are there people out there who can hear an A380 or a 747 and know what it is without seeing it? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/2 "2019-05-12T04:20:11Z")
A couple of times a month a Dreamlifter flies over my house at 2500 feet. I always know. 747-400s are loud. ---
**Author:** ![BrickBat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@BrickBat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrickBat)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/3 "2019-05-12T07:11:45Z")
I can, mostly, but context is the key. I can differentiate by sounds of particular engines, and various models thereof ( Rolls Royce, GE, P&W, CFM, IAE2500 etc ) and by knowing what A/C type uses what engine in what A/C is used in the local airport: thus, the A/C basic type. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2019, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/4 "2019-05-12T22:18:58Z")
I know that people who are really good can tell this engine (piston or jet) from that engine. I don’t think it’s possible to know whether the engine is on a Boeing or Airbus, though. ---
**Author:** ![wevets](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9a140/32.png) [@wevets](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wevets)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/5 "2019-05-13T13:03:51Z")
Sounds like there’s folks who can discern different engine noise, and from context can glean what aircraft it might be! Fascinating. I may have to spend some time on flightradar24 to figure out what I’m hearing. Thanks for all the responses! ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/6 "2019-05-13T14:31:49Z")
I could easily tell what airplane was flying over by sound when I was young, but this was in the 50s when everything was piston engine powered (and my hearing was sharper), we lived near a busy airport, and my father was an air traffic controller so I was well versed in identifying airplanes. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2019, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-people-tell-commercial-airliners-apart-by-their-sound/833845/7 "2019-05-13T15:54:39Z")
I can tell many helicopters by the sounds, but different number of main and tail rotor blades makes it easier than commercial jets. A lot of them use the same engines, so you’d have to have a lot of listening time to be able to differentiate the planes just by sound, though I suspect it could be done. I live under the approach path for a civil airport that has several warbirds that fly out of it regularly. There’s no confusing a Cessna with a Texan with a B-17. 🙂