I flew in a plane for the first time this week. Going there was little turbulance, except for our final descent where we ran into some “weather” as the pilot kept calling it. It caused some stomach roiling drops and when the plane touched down, the passengers applauded.
On the way back we were under the seatbelt sign the whole way. It wasn’t bad at all, really. It felt just like a ride on the Long Island Railroad, only much less bumpy. When we touched down the passengers applauded.
I asked the pilot on the way out if everyone clapped every time he landed and he just chuckled. So now I’m asking you all-- is this SOP? It seemed a little, I don’t know, over-the-top and precious.
I’ve flown a bunch. I never clap on landing and I have been through a couple of hairy ones. I’d say it happens on about 20% of my flights with no particular correlation to how difficult the landing seemed to be. Generally the clappers are senior citizens. I find the whole concept to be mildly annoying.
The only times I’ve been on flights that illicit applause are the ones where we have sat interminably on the taxi-way waiting in line for the runway (like in STL, SFO or ORD) - the applause usually follows an announcement from the cockpit that goes something like “Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve been cleard for takeoff, flight attendents please be seated.”
It’s a European thing, I believe. If you have a large quotient of European types, especially Germans, you can expect applause, regardless of bumpiness or non-bumpiness. Obviously, on transatlantic flights, the odds are in favor of hearing the big hand…Timmy, frequent flyer.
I’ve done a lot of flying both here and abroad, and have never experienced this. But I’ve never had a bad flight or a tough approach to landing which would warrant it.
If there’s been bad turbulence on the approach, then sometimes yes.
If it’s a really short runway on a rocky Greek island (for instance Skiathos airport - very very short runway) then sometimes yes.
I’ve heard it done on occasion. The clappers mostly seem to be large groups, school-trip or church-group types. It seems silly to me – duh, of course the pilot landed the plane, that’s what he’s supposed to do – but I guess I can understand why a nervous first-time flyer might be tempted to clap.
I’ve done a fair amount of flying, especially trans-pacific. The single time that the flight erupted into applause was on the occasion of an emergency landing in Taipei, Taiwan. The pilot merely said that there was a problem, we would circle for a while to dump fuel. Cool, no problem, a big delay and pain in the ass, but no problem. Well, as we made the final approach, looking out the window, the entire runway was lined with emergency vehicles and their flashing lights. I think everyone clapped when we landed and the pilot said things were fine.
Never happened on any other flight I’ve ever been on.
I have flown numerous times, experienced extremely bad “weather”, incredibly long runway delays, and transatlantic flights, and never have I encountered anyone applauding upon landing. I know that it happened a few times, that were documented, shortly after 9/11, and I can kind of understand that, as a stress reliever, but other than that, I don’t really understand it.
I’ve only experienced clapping when the aircraft has been knocked around by turbulence. I’m not sure why they clap. Maybe they think that it took an act of superhuman flying to get the bouncy aircraft back on the ground? I can understand it if the pilot brought down a crippled aircraft in an emergency situation, but not for simple turbulence.
Anecdote time.
On my first trip to New Orleans we ran into a T-storm. We were being bounced around quite a bit, but as a pilot I know that aircraft are generally very stron structures. After a boringly-smooth four hours from LAX, I rather enjoyed the ride. I thought it was grand fun. And the lightning strike or lightning near-strike was cool.
But we diverted to Baton Rouge. Since United didn’t have a contract there, we were not allowed to deplane. Ironically, some passengers’ final destination was Baton Rouge; and yet they had to sit in a hot, stinking airplane for two hours while we waited for the sotrm to pass and then fly another hour to MSY. Some passengers “suffered anxiety attacks” and were allowed to get off in the company of paramedics in Baton Rouge, but everyone else had to stay aboard under pain of arrest.
I overheard the cabin crew say that they were running low on airsickness bags. I guess others didn’t find the turbulence to be fun at all, in spite of my glee at such a fun ride.
And yes, “everyone” clapped.
I suppose the passengers think it’s a nice thing to give pilots The Clap.
I knew the JFK/SJU run has a tradition of applause at the end of the flight, wasn’t aware of the incidence thereof in other routes.
Me, I would save my applause for when Your Captain Speaking has saved my butt through a serious feat of stick-and-throttle work. But I can fully understand how to an average citizen, recovery from turbulence may feel like just that.
Do you clap when the bus driver succesfully brakes and halts at a bus stop?
There’s your answer. It’s an annoying practice, and I could only see myself doing it if the 747 had 3 out of 4 engines on fire, was missing one wing, and the pilot had a wooden leg, a parrot on his shoulder, and a vat of rum on the flightdeck.
