After the plane lands, the passengers applaud the pilots. It is believed that this is a sign of gratitude for a good flight and an expression of respect for the profession of a pilot. However, experts believe that actually clapping the pilot after landing is not worth it.
Who came up with the idea of clapping for pilots
For the first time, pilots began to clap in the United States. The officially documented first case dates back to 1948. An American Airlines flight lands in Ohio after landing gear failure. The pilots were able to land the plane without casualties or serious injuries.
It is believed that this was the first time that the passengers applauded the pilot. However, it is not known for sure whether this flight became the ancestor of a well-known tradition.
The reason for the applause may depend on the airline and country of arrival. American low-cost airline JetBlue launched an ad with passengers clapping on screens when it landed at an airport in Costa Rica, in honor of the launch of flights in this direction.
Why Pilots Shouldn’t Clap
However, applause in gratitude to the pilots perplexes many employees. Like flight attendants, pilots claim that they are just doing their job, so they can get angry at passengers because of the applause. They themselves say that passengers do not clap on the bus at every stop and do not applaud the driver who stopped the train.
There is another reason why you should not clap the pilots on the plane. They just don’t get applause. The fact is that the cabin is separated from the cabin by an armored door, which began to be installed on all aircraft after the September 11 attacks. So that the noise from the cabin does not distract the pilots, the door was made with sound insulation. They can communicate with flight attendants on a special internal phone, and they do not hear everything that happens in the cabin. Including applause.
Therefore, passengers clapping on landing are advised not to, as pilots may learn from flight attendants about the applause, and many of them are actually angry at the actions of the passengers.