I was talking to my Dad this morning who just happened to arrive back from Southern Spain and he was telling me that when his flight landed back in Manchester just about everyone started clapping & cheering when it landed.

I got thinking and when i was flying out to the Canery Islands a few months ago the same happened upon landing people started cheering & clapping.

Why do people do this ? Do you cheer and clap when your bus gets you into town or your train gets you to where ever you are going.

Is it that some people have so little confidence in the crew that they are amazed that they got the plane onto the ground in one piece that they must cheer like something amazing has been achieved.

Maybe its just me but i find the whole cheering & clapping on landing thing a little odd.

Although when i fly with the likes of BA this sort of thing doesnt happen. So im thinking its mainly just your typical bucket & spade holiday makers on charter flights that do this.

I was talking to my Dad this morning who just happened to arrive back from Southern Spain and he was telling me that when his flight landed back in Manchester just about everyone started clapping & cheering when it landed.

I got thinking and when i was flying out to the Canery Islands a few months ago the same happened upon landing people started cheering & clapping.

Why do people do this ? Do you cheer and clap when your bus gets you into town or your train gets you to where ever you are going.

Is it that some people have so little confidence in the crew that they are amazed that they got the plane onto the ground in one piece that they must cheer like something amazing has been achieved.

Maybe its just me but i find the whole cheering & clapping on landing thing a little odd.

Although when i fly with the likes of BA this sort of thing doesnt happen. So im thinking its mainly just your typical bucket & spade holiday makers on charter flights that do this.

I have been on a plane, roughly, about 20 times in my lifetime. Not ONCE have I ever experienced this.

I think your plane was chartered for the funny farm!

It gets me mad it is completely stupid thing to do the captain cannot even hear them

Relief, I should think ... pure relief.

I have been on a plane, roughly, about 20 times in my lifetime. Not ONCE have I ever experienced this.

I think your plane was chartered for the funny farm!



every plane that carries the ryanair logo is a funny farm

I thought this was a Dutch thing? Its only happened when i've been flying in and out of the Netherlands! yes the Dutch are wierd

God, this is sooo annoying, I actually feel embarrassed for them!:loopy:

I flew back from Greece a couple of days ago and this happened.

Most bizarre!

I almost expected someone starting a whip round followed by a rendition of 'For he's a jolly good fellow'

:rolleyes:

The Turkish always do this. I can remember travelling to and from Istanbul back in the 80's and they did it then.

The old Pope JP 2 used to kiss the ground after he landed safely, but I am braver than him, I just stop shaking on landing.:hihi:

They did it when we landed in Jamaica, but that is the only flight that I have experienced it on, and I wondered what the hell was going on!!!

I once sat next to an Irish Nun on the way home from Ireland, she spent the whole hours flight rubbing her prayer beads and praying, I think she may have been a little nervous!!

These days folks expect to be blown up mid flight I guess, with all the upset & media coverage of terrorism.

Perhaps it is nervous tension/ relief as mentioned?

I once sat next to an Irish Nun on the way home from Ireland, she spent the whole hours flight rubbing her prayer beads and praying, I think she may have been a little nervous!!
Maybe she had hay fever and diarrhoea?

That combination often gets me praying....


... I'll get me coat :hihi:

It is annoying I guess, although after I landed in a tropical storm in the Canaries it was definitely warranted! :shocked:

No need under normal circumstances though.

It is probably just relief from the boredom, and knowing you about be released from sitting in a location that if you were an animal would be illegal.

I always breathe a sigh of relief upon landing.
I think the tension comes from the fact that you have been apparantly motionless for a few hours, then at the instant of touch down, you are hammering along the ground at 200 mph, and you have no way to control the situation. For those few moments you realise that your life is in the pilots hands.
The only exciting thing about flying is the take off.

We had a prolonged landing once that was so rough that the luggage fell out of some of the overhead compartments. People didn't clap on this one, everyone was a bit pale

I almost remarked 'toilet paper, anyone?' :hihi:

Why oh why,is this sooo terrible?Who cares whether people clap or not?Sounds to me like a typical 'stiff upper lip' british thing.
Now,id understand the disdain if they all stood up and dropped their trousers,but clapping??
*sigh*

:rolleyes:

My mum does it sometimes, I thought it was quite sweet!

i dont think ive been on a flight where it hasnt happended!

but then coming to think of it im always on cheap dodgy package hols with all the chavs!

Seems harmeless enough behaviour to me. Parking a bus is something most people could probably just about manage themselves. Landing a plane is quite special.

The only occasion I've ever felt the need to issue a round of applause was after one young captain, who got us back an hour ahead of schedule, hit the tarmac like a pile of bricks and proceded to taxi around the airport at like he was late for an important lunch appointment.

Isn't this done by the same people/sealions that I always see, on TV, applauding themselves ?

One occasion I can recall was landing at Corfu when we'd been flown by a female captain and had a very smooth landing.

I'd think this was daft unless I'd had a clapping moment myself. The entire final descent, landing, decelleration and halt were so perfectly smooth you couldn't even tell when we'd touched down on the runway. It was like being wafted down on a feather, and everyone burst into applause because it felt a bit special. It sounds a bit silly saying that now, but I don't care. It was a nice moment.

I must admit - I was guilty of this after a 24 hour delay and a 3 times diverted flight from Cuba in Sept.
I could have kissed the staff at customs I was so happy

Just relief that we are back on terra firma.

Going back a few years to the early 70's, I remember one the Captain and the entire crew getting cheered and applauded mid flight.
We we on a crew change from a ship in Australia, flying back to England.
It was a charter flight with only the ships company on board.
Someone noticed through a window, that a section of the wing covering was coming adrift. One corner of a joint was lifting in the air stream.
The stewardess went to report it to the Captain. While she was gone, the entire riveted section, about 10' by 2', suddenly ripped off and disappeared behind us.
You could see the structure of the wing underneath.
This was met with great hilarity and good natured abuse of the 'cowboy airmen'
The Captain came out to have look, he had a handlebar moustache, silk cravat, and a massive cigar.
He said, never mind Ive seen worse.
He then ordered free drinks for the rest of the leg into Columbo. (that was when they were cheered)
All this time the cockpit door was open, and people were free to go and chat with the flight crew.
Compare that free and easy attitude to the strict rules of today.

Free drinks on the captain - that's worth a standing ovation!

Free drinks on the captain - that's worth a standing ovation!
There were about 200 hundred people on board as well.
Mind you, he would not have been paying, with it being a charter, it probably all went on P&O's tab anyway. :D

I prefer the 200 drinks courtesy of the distinguished captain scenario...

Mrs Chumley and I fly five or six times a year but have only noticed this once - when we booked a cheap late deal to Greece this summer. It made me cringe. It's almost as bad as that applauding over your head thing that footballers do when they leave the pitch :gag:

Far better to impress any children sitting nearby by counting down to touchdown and getting to zero just as the tyres bump the tarmac :thumbsup:

One occasion I can recall was landing at Corfu when we'd been flown by a female captain and had a very smooth landing.

This is a scary strip from memory, very close to the sea or a lagoon or something, and an uneven surface. Perhaps that's why they clapped, she simply deserved it!

I have to say, though, there is something about your words, 'female captain' and 'a very smooth landing' that excites me, I don't know what it is but they do!

I do'not like the clapping but it's the idiots that stand up as soon as the plane stops and try to get to the overhead lockers that annoy me. They give no thought to the poor sod sat in the isle seat. Why they want to get off first just to stand waiting for their luggage which will probably be the last off or even worse lost beats me.

relief to be in one piece, and on holiday!!!

I thought this was a Dutch thing? Its only happened when i've been flying in and out of the Netherlands! yes the Dutch are wierd

The Turkish always do this. I can remember travelling to and from Istanbul back in the 80's and they did it then.

The Germans also do this! I found that when on a chartered flight to Spain. :hihi:

Never mind clapping and cheering at the end, I find standing up and shouting "Oh my god! We're all going to die!" at regular intervals during the flight is a great way to break down social barriers with your fellow passengers.

Usually people are thanking God that they are back on terra-firma! :hihi: Theres quite a lot of people who are scared of planes, others who are just so pleased not to be crammed in an aircraft seat for much longer...

...and seeing as we dont get to say "thanks" to the Pilot, a clap and cheer sort of replaces that :D

I have been on several flights, and the only time from experience the plane cheered on landing was on a retun flight from Faro.

The plane was predominantly full of sunburnt working class people, so little explanation is needed really.

I have been on a plane, roughly, about 20 times in my lifetime. Not ONCE have I ever experienced this.

I think your plane was chartered for the funny farm!

I have been quiet this year but for the previous couple of years before that I have taken around 12 flights per year, in my life I must have taken 60 flights and I have never ever heard of that kind of behaviour.

I have been quiet this year but for the previous couple of years before that I have taken around 12 flights per year, in my life I must have taken 60 flights and I have never ever heard of that kind of behaviour.

Go from Liverpool, people from there are ace, plus we had a hen party on board so everyone joined in!!

I used to fly to germany and back every week, the only thing that used to happen on landing was that everyone switched on their phone and they all started beeping away.

I've flown with BA quite a few times and never seen this, sleazy jet to geneva a good number of times and never seen it and lufthansa (aforementioned germany trips) and never seen it.

Must be a pretty odd set of passengers if that happens.

My mum does it sometimes, I thought it was quite sweet!

My mother in law - also say's thank-you to cash machines when her money is dispensed! :P

I was thinking about this earlier,

I have no idea but I feel myself willing people not to do it as we are about to land

No idea why it embarrasses me.

Must be a pretty odd set of passengers if that happens.

The lot I was with (see earlier post) were an odd set.
They were drunken officers and crew from a cruise liner returning home after a six month trip.
They would have cheered anything. :D
Handing out the free booze was a good idea, as it took their minds of what condition the rest plane may been in, what with the pilot looking and talking like Biggles and part of the wing falling off at six miles up over the Indian Ocean. :hihi:

I've seen it happen a few times. Most when the landing was particularly excellent (with awful weather).

I think one time we had awful turbulence through a lot of a 6 hour flight, everyone was probably just happy to be back down to the ground...

Yeah, I'd cheer free booze myself.