# What do you do when the airplane is landing?



## cfu507

When I come home from abroad to Israel in a plane full of other Israelis, most of the passengers applaud for the pilot or the flight crew when we land. Many times there are also youths who sing “Hevenu shalom aleichem” (We brought peace to you), an Israeli folksong about peace. There is a festive atmosphere that we are coming "home", back to our native land. 
What do people from your country do when the airplane is landing?


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## Vale_yaya

Be happy to be alive... I'm serious!!!... we don't really do anything special that I'm aware of... there's people who crosses oneself to thank God for arriving safe home, same thing when the airplane takes off, but there's no applauds (even though I've seen very few people doing so... maybe foreigners)... other than that nothing else..


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## wildan1

In the US we turn on our cell phones!

No applause or singing here, but I do frequently experience mass applause upon landing when I travel in Latin America.


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## ewie

Everyone stands up and fannies about with his/her hand luggage, dropping it on other passengers' heads ... oh and of course, as Wil says, everyone switches their mobile drip  phone back on. Pilot? what pilot?  Flight crew? ~ oh, you mean the _waitresses_!


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## jazyk

> No applause or singing here, but I do frequently experience mass applause upon landing when I travel in Latin America.


So true. I've experienced the same upon landing in my native Brazil.


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## alexacohen

Spanish people unbuckle their seat belts before they should, and stand up before they should.
The mobile phone mania seems universal. People also turn their mobiles on before they should.

No applause or chanting but maybe an Hallelujah! if the flight was rough.


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## Joca

wildan1 said:


> In the US we turn on our cell phones!
> 
> No applause or singing here, but I do frequently experience mass applause upon landing when I travel in Latin America.


 
I expect you aren't referring to Brazil. I've often flown here and have never seen or heard this mass applause. Anyway, I haven't flown to all places in this country, and maybe in some remote parts, where conditions are very bad, it may take place.

In general, people here do exactly the same Alexa is describing in her post, that is, they do everyhing in advance that they are told not to do. 

I personally hate flying and when the plane has stopped (having landed is not enough!), I feel extremely relieved and wish that could really be my last time inside an airplane.


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## Macunaíma

jazyk said:


> So true. I've experienced the same upon landing in my native Brazil.


 
Was it a charter flight? Or perhaps there was a large group of students or holidaymakers in the plane? Some people, especially young, tend to think it's cool to make a lot of noise when they're in group, but on a regular flight I think this is a very unusual thing! I only flew to Brazil from abroad once and everything was pretty normal: although it was 2 a.m. and people were half asleep, everybody rushed into the aisle at the same time, pushed and shoved towards the door hitting each other with their hand luggage, as always happens. I have noticed people crying quietly or smiling to themselves during flights, especially on take-off or landing, but it's always been an intimate, individual thing, not a collective and spontaneous manifestation as that described by cfu507.


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## wildan1

Joca said:


> I expect you aren't referring to Brazil. I've often flown here and have never seen or heard this mass applause. Anyway, I haven't flown to all places in this country, and maybe in some remote parts, where conditions are very bad, it may take place.


 
No, I have never been to Brazil. What I described I have experienced on many flights between Miami and different Andean and Caribbean destinations. These were commercial flights, not charters. And the flights were not necessarily bumpy or otherwise problematic.


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## mirx

I find this a very interesting topic.

I was both amused and surpised the 1st time that on an Irish flight the (Irish) passangers started applauding and making noises. I had never experienced that in my flight to México or the USA before. 

I was later explained to that the applause was a way of thanking the Captain for such a long and tiresome flight, it still seems to me a bit strange.

***The plane was full mostly of middle-aged marriages and their kids.


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## Wilma_Sweden

I only remember hearing applause once, when on a seriously delayed plane from our favourite low-cost Irish airline that landed back home in Sweden in rough weather. Supposedly most of the passengers were happy to come back home at all instead of being stranded forever at Stansted... 

Usually, Swedish air passengers are the same as all the other, and lately I've made a point of sitting by the window gazing out for familiar scenery until we hit the runway, then sit back and relax, well away from the aisle, and let the others do the fannying about until they've actually half-cleared the plane. Only then do I get out, stroll casually to the baggage claim area to find the first pieces of luggage appearing...

/Wilma


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## Sepia

Applauding is finally coming out of use on German planes - charters included. 

Switching on mobiles and moving towards the exits before they should, is IN. Even though it sometimes obvious that the will proceed to a bus, and as they are the first ones to enter, they'll be the last ones to leave it.


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## sokol

Austrians, far as I can tell (I am not the most regular flyer), don't behave any different as when leaving a simple train: they just leave. I have never heard applauding. Or songs sung.

(And they too seem to feel very elevated that they are allowed to use the mobile phone again ... I never understood this habit, but as soon as the plane has landed phones are switched on and people start to chat away.)


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## Outsider

Applause after landing is not normal in Portugal, but it does happen. I've witnessed it several times while landing in Madeira island, whose airport has a rather small landing strip overlooking the sea. It can look scary when you're not used to it. I guess some passengers feel that it's a feat for the pilot to be able to land in it, though the strip has been extended, and it's not as short now as it used to be.


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## Vanda

Unlike some of my folk has said above I do have seen mass applause when landing in Brasil, twice or three times already. It happens mainly in the end of July after Brazilians have passed a whole month all around Europe and are back to the "terrinha". I don't know if they just miss home or if they are relieved to be in their own country after being away for a while but the fact is that it really happens sometimes. What I do? I laugh. I think it so funny.


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## Gabino

In my country we laugh about it because most people do applaud, mostly old people or people from the country.


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## OldAvatar

In Romania there are applauses and feelings of relief but only after tough landings like the ones in bad conditions: crosswinds, turbulences, heavy rain etc.


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## Hakro

When the airplane *is landing* I curse the pilots who don't care to adjust the air pressure (as far as I know, it's done by hand, not automatically).

After the airplane *has landed* I curse the stupid passengers who applaud for an ordinary landing. I'm glad it's not often heard anymore in Finland.


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## mirla

Russian people do applause, especially when the whole airplane belongs to them. I mean, that if that's an international flight and there are only few Russians, that they stay still and quiet, but as for charter flights to Egypt or Turkey you can always hear the applause. 
I actually don't do it, but after the plane has landed I always say Thank you to God (even I don't really believe he exists)
in terms of switching the mobiles and trying to be the first to leave the plane - we are like other nations.


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## berndf

On German or Swiss charter flights people practically always applaud after landing. (I have no experience with Austrian charter flights.)

On regular flights this never occurs.

I remember once having seen a person on a regular flight starting to clap his hands after landing and looked around in total disbelief when no one joined in. It seemed to be a person who only knew charter flights.

In era of of budget air lines, this obvious "class distinction" between people use the airplane for everyday travel and those who only use it for package tours puzzles me a lot.


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## danielfranco

If I'm a passenger, I usually tip the waitress and/or ask for a phone number (generally, this is declined with a sad shake of permed tresses).

If I'm a spectator, I usually marvel at Newton's third law of motion, since it's what keeps that huge hunk of metal suspended mid-air.

But, in general terms, Americans and Mexicans seem to do the same things as soon as they land: No-applause mad rush for the overhead contents with cell-phone glued to ear.
D


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## Eugin

wildan1 said:


> In the US we turn on our cell phones!
> 
> No applause or singing here, but I do frequently experience mass applause upon landing when I travel in Latin America.


 
Wildan,
aren´t you suppose to turn your cell phones *off* when landing and when taking off, so that they do not interfere with the communications with the Control Tower?


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## mirx

Eugin said:


> Wildan,
> aren´t you suppose to turn your cell phones *off* when landing and when taking off, so that they do not interfere with the communications with the Control Tower?


 
Yes but given that we are already landing...


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## Porteño

In all the time I lived in Brazil, some 12 years, and flew frequently, I can not recall one occasion when the passengers applauded the captain and crew on landing. However, this was a common practice in many of the other South American countries, particularly in Argentina and Colombia. Nowadays it seems to have fallen out of use in Argentina, although I can not speak for Colombia as it has been many years since I last travelled there.


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## Mirlo

I don't remember seing anyone applauding  when I go to Panamá, I just wanted  to get out of the D@#%  plane anyway.
I think we start turning on the cell phones (that's an international tradition).


Saludos,


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## mistertopo

In Argentina we applaud, but is hard to say who's applauding. It's hard to find a plane with only natives.


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## mirx

mistertopo said:


> In Argentina we applaud, but is hard to say who's applauding. It's hard to find a plane with only natives.


 
Why do you applaud?


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## Eugin

mirx said:


> Why do you applaud?


 
I guess it is because we`ve arrived to the land safe and sound, and because the flight has been pretty good (I mean, without any harsg turbulence, etc). Said in other words, maybe it´s just a recognition to the pilot`s good performance during the flight....


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## espider

Here we just try to understand what is meant by "deplaning momentarily from the airplane" (US "English"), mentally translate into "disembarking in a moment (momentarily = FOR a moment) from the aeroplane", then switch on our mobiles and shade our eyes from the fixed grins of the trolley dollies. English reserve precludes applause after all but the trickiest landings.


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