TravelDoorsOut

Hey Guys,

I am not sure where this belong, but there were a couple times when I fly, I hear some weird noises.

On Tuesday I was SAP to MIA and during lift off, I heard the landing gear being retracted 2-3 times, but I didn't pay much attention to it. When we started to descend, I heard the landing gear sound around 8 times. It seemed like the pilot was trying to open the landing gear and it wasn't opening. The last sound I heard was literally 30 seconds prior to landing.

What could this be?

PatrickHenry1775

Perhaps you heard flaps/slats being extended/retracted. Where were seated on that flight?

Flahusky

I'm sure this will get moved shortly...
People will need more info. to help, eg what type of plane
I've heard 2-3 clunks as gear is retracted in some older plans depending on where I'm setting, nothing alarming there.
Now the 8 clunks of the gear while landing, that would bother unless the plane had 8 landing gears

sbagdon

Airline, airframe, and even sub-airframe would assist. Thanks.

At least on some DL MDs, after the gear goes down, I seem to remember hearing a long buzzing from the wing area, even after flaps were fully extended, which I've presumed is something related to de-icing, and usually goes off right after wheels-down.

Any pilots out there?

TravelDoorsOut

Sorry guys!

it was AA 757, I was sitting closer to the back, 28-29 around there.

Gynob001

Years back, I flew from Paris to Bucharest by Aerofloat. Farmers, mail, chicken, drunks, ..the flight was weird. During take off most of the plane was rattling and there was all kinds of mechanical noises. Believe me-there was a man with a chicken in his hands and he let it go during take off and off it flew over my head. I was sure that the plane was going to fall apart.

Jazzop

It's the absence of sounds in an airplane when you should really start to worry.

ericjkelly

Yea many times you hear the flaps and they sound like the gear. I hvae been fooled many times by them

Paul79UF

That's true. I think an eerie silence would freak me out more than anything else.

Efrem

Weirdest sound I ever heard on an airplane was on a DL 727 some years back. It was a clunk, clunk, clunk like a bowling ball rolling around in the trunk of a car.

Next thing I noticed was that we weren't climbing out of SLC as fast as we usually should. Then the U-turn, then the (uneventful) landing.

Turned out a cargo door hadn't been properly secured. It opened, blocking the air into one of the rear-mounted engines - which promptly flamed out. Absent suction from the engine, the door moved away from the intake side enough to allow air in, so the engine automatically restarted - at which point it sucked the door onto the intake again, and flamed out again. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

Got an upgrade out of it on rebooking, though. Only reason: not being an a$$hole to the agent after the two guys in front of me had both been.

marble

Yup, I agree. I don't know what plane it is (or even if there are more factors involved) but sometimes the flaps seem to move with a very large 'clunk' and then lots of whiring ... pretty much what the landing gear sounds like to me. When you hear both of them, they're completely different to each other ... but hearing one on its own is easily confused by the half asleep passenger

TravelDoorsOut

yea thats what it seems like it was, it was an AA 757

jtb226

While we're on the subject, on the a319/320/321, what is it that kind of sounds like a dog barking (best way I can describe it)? Usually during taxi and landing, think it might be something do with the hydraulics for the flaps. Always wondered about that.

CLTmech

IIRC, as described by someone else on another board, it's a hydraulic power transfer unit that is keeping pressure in one system as the engine driven pump spools down after engine shutdown (going from fuzzy memory at the moment).

goalie

Yup, it's the hydraulics for the flaps. If you happen to have a window seat with a view of the wing, look at the leading edge when you hear the "pig squealing" and you should see (depending on when you hear the sound) the leading edge either retracting or expanding (and it will happen 4 times.....when the flaps are lowered prior to departure, retracted once in flight, lowered on approach and retracted after landing)