I live under a flight path for the Columbus airport, and for the most part I’ve tuned out the sounds. Sometimes the sounds make me perk up – twice in my time living here I’ve heard engine failures, and they sound wild, like dragons attacking.
Recently I started hearing another sound, like a groaning or something that was hard to describe. I did some searching and it appears that the sound is caused by a specific model of geared turbofan engine used on the Airbus A220. I believe in my case, these are operated by Breeze Airways, which has slowly been increasing flights out of CMH over the last 5 years since they moved in.
Anyone else hear this sound? It’s been hard for me to tune out.
https://simpleflying.com/why-airbus-a220-sound-whale/
The audible frequency is roughly 400–800 Hz. The sound starts right after takeoff when the environmental control system packs switch to high flow, reaches a peak, and then fades as the aircraft climbs, and the inlet doors then modulate or the ram pressure changes.
I’m not sure I agree with the vid title but the “whale song” begins around 0:40.
Sounds like an F104 on startup
Quite a few years back, I read a blurb in the news that a B-17 was going to visit an area airshow in a week or two. I had forgotten about it, but then one day outside working heard this strange burbling propeller noise overhead sort of loafing along in the air. I’d never seen or heard one before, but without looking up “I know what that is!!”.
The B-36 had six (6) count 'em six 28-cylinder engines (and four jet engines fouling the exhaust note) and thus 168 spark plugs, which incidentally had to be replaced after every flight. That’ll keep those crew chiefs from getting into trouble. That must have been something to hear rumbling overhead.
B-36 taking off from movie Strategic Air Command with Jimmy Stewart. Note the walk-by of the jet engines in the clip. Go full screen so you can see it clearly. You will see slats blocking the intakes of the engines. They used the jet engines for take off and could shut them down if not needed in the air.
When it comes to engine noise I think the Vulcan was in a class by itself.
John Glenn airport? Hello, neighbor!
Anyway, that sound would annoy me…creepy, kind of. Be hard to get used to.
