- Thread starter Talldrink
- Start date
Are we the only ones who clap?
Belgians and Dutch on charter flights do it all the time: to the DR, on short flights inside Europe, a lot of people must still think that flying is the most dangerous way to travel.
By contrast, in the last weeks no less than 5 coach buses have crashed on European roads and the Winter ski season has yet to start!
Bartolomeo
By contrast, in the last weeks no less than 5 coach buses have crashed on European roads and the Winter ski season has yet to start!
Bartolomeo
I jus flew to Mexico from Atlanta US and noticed only the Mexicans form the US on the plane applauded when we landed. I remembered flying from NYC to POP and the Dominicans applaud, after the pilot has to yell at them to sit down and turn off their fricking cell phones for fifteen minutes so we could leave. Why don't Dominicans sit the frick down when they get on a plane??????????????
Funny you should ask that...jerryme said:
I was flying from Madrid last year and behind me was sitting a Spaniard who apparently lives here part time and who spent the whole trip complaining about how Dominicans don't respect the law and can't follow instructions and whatnot. As soon as the plane touched the ground he was on his feet pulling his carry-on out of the overhead compartment, despite repeated requests by the captain that people sit down.
But he wasn't alone. The whole damn plane, full , for the most part, of Dominicans, Puerto Ricans and Spaniards was doing the same thing. The plane taxied its way around the airport with most people ready to step out, suitcases at hand. My husband thought it was hilarious. I didn't.
Talldrink said:
It used to be that Puerto Ricans applauded loudly every time they touched down on the island. However, this custom seems to be on its way out as
I have noticed that lately less and less people applaud on arrival.
I think people applaud because they made it. Survived in one piece. Of course Americans don't do it, but other people still do. I never applaud, but feel equally relieved at having landed. Flying may be very safe, but still...
Pib said:
Almost spooky....
In my experience, people in other places clap too. Latins, non-Latins and not so Latins. It's just another of those national traits that several nations claim as exclusively theirs. I've heard 'we Dominicans are like that' with regards to a whole load of characteristics, good and bad - hospitality, machismo, dancing, for example. While Dominicans can be hospitable, macho and good dancers, they are not the only inhabitants of planet Earth who can claim this.
Same goes for applause when the plane lands. You probably won't get it on a flight full of Eurocrats travelling from London to Brussels, but any combination of people returning to their home country, tourists looking forward to their holiday, delays or scares during the flight are sure to produce the conditions for a round of applause when the plane touches down.
If anyone has experienced landing in my home town's airport (Lambada, I know you at least know what this is like) you will understand why every planeload treats the pilots to cheers of sheer relief once it is clear the plane is not going to end up in the drink. I've never landed at the old airport in Hong Kong but based on what I've heard about the landing conditions there I am sure that even the stiff upper lipped stuffed suits used to put their sweaty palms together as a tribute to the pilot's life-saving aerobatics.
Everybody Does It!
I honestly cannot remember a flight where the passengers didn't clap and I fly a lot for my job. It was done by all nationalities. I always clap. I thought that it was a way of showing the pilots your appreciation that they got you to the your destination in one piece. :classic:
I honestly cannot remember a flight where the passengers didn't clap and I fly a lot for my job. It was done by all nationalities. I always clap. I thought that it was a way of showing the pilots your appreciation that they got you to the your destination in one piece. :classic:
When you land in St. Marteen you don't see any land until the airplane is almost touching the ground and stop seeing it before the plane stops. Trust me, I wasn't applauding when the bird stopped because I was busy trying to locate my 'floating device'. :nervous:Chirimoya said:Almost spooky....
If anyone has experienced landing in my home town's airport (Lambada, I know you at least know what this is like) you will understand why every planeload treats the pilots to cheers of sheer relief once it is clear the plane is not going to end up in the drink. I've never landed at the old airport in Hong Kong but based on what I've heard about the landing conditions there I am sure that even the stiff upper lipped stuffed suits used to put their sweaty palms together as a tribute to the pilot's life-saving aerobatics.
http://flyawaysimulation.com/postt815.html
Chirimoya said:Almost spooky....
In my experience, people in other places clap too. Latins, non-Latins and not so Latins. It's just another of those national traits that several nations claim as exclusively theirs. I've heard 'we Dominicans are like that' with regards to a whole load of characteristics, good and bad - hospitality, machismo, dancing, for example. While Dominicans can be hospitable, macho and good dancers, they are not the only inhabitants of planet Earth who can claim this.
Same goes for applause when the plane lands. You probably won't get it on a flight full of Eurocrats travelling from London to Brussels, but any combination of people returning to their home country, tourists looking forward to their holiday, delays or scares during the flight are sure to produce the conditions for a round of applause when the plane touches down.
If anyone has experienced landing in my home town's airport (Lambada, I know you at least know what this is like) you will understand why every planeload treats the pilots to cheers of sheer relief once it is clear the plane is not going to end up in the drink. I've never landed at the old airport in Hong Kong but based on what I've heard about the landing conditions there I am sure that even the stiff upper lipped stuffed suits used to put their sweaty palms together as a tribute to the pilot's life-saving aerobatics.
True, Chiri, but I was in a single engine Cherokee & I WAS the pilot (well 1 of 2) & I was too busy fighting the turbulence to be able to take my hands off the stick to clap myself!!
Hong Kong old airport was wonderful........I've flown in the cockpit of a 707 for a nighttime landing there, straight down the high street, mountains on one side. And no the Captain didn't let me do that landing, even though he broke every other rule in the book. But that was in the 1970s.......a bit different now!
I don't think any of the British passengers clapped though.Dominicans do it! Venezuelans do it. Yemenis do it. Sudanese and Nigerians do it. Kenyans do it. Some Indians and Pakistanis do it. The list is endless!