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As the descent towards your destination is started the engine power
is reduced and on some aircraft types the contrast between the cruise
and the descent engine noise can be quite pronounced. At this time
you will most likely start to feel the increase in cabin air pressure
as your ears ‘pop' At some stage in the descent you may see the
spoilers deploy from the top surface of the wings. These ‘spoil'
some of the lift produced by the wings and create drag so that the
aeroplane can decelerate and descend quicker. Because of this drag
there is usually an increase in wind noise at this time.
At lower altitudes, as the speed decreases, the general wind noise
will lower and you will again notice the flaps as they are extended
from the wings and the clunks and wind noise from the lowering landing
gear. The gear may make a louder clunk this time as the undercarriage
is locked into position.
Because of the lower air noise you may hear the engines as their
speed is changed. In contrast to the take off where we use a constant
engine power, for landing we need to keep a constant airspeed. Fine
–tuning of the engine power can be needed to account for the different
wind speeds at various altitudes and the drag caused by different
flap positions.
How the landing feels can vary and depends on many factors. A reasonably
firm landing is, believe it or not, the ‘correct' technique for
a large aeroplane and really is required if the runway is short
or wet. In these conditions we need to be on the ground as soon
as possible for maximum braking effectiveness. To help the brakes
the spoilers will again deploy from the top of the wings. The engine
sound will initially decrease to idle speed, but then increase as
reverse thrust is applied. You may see the thrust reversers move
into position at the rear of the engine and this can be accompanied
by higher noise and some rattling of the overhead bins.
Different models of aircraft will obviously have slightly different
sounds, maybe in a slightly different order but this is generally
how it happens on any aeroplane that you’re likely to fly on these
days. The main thing is to relax and enjoy the flight - you can
always ask the cabin crew ‘what’s that noise?' but they’re so used
to it, they’ll probably say ‘what noise?'.
Andrew Clarke is a Captain with a major British airline and has
over 7000 hours flying experience on many different commercial airliners
in Europe and beyond.
