Remember having to pause mid conversation because an airplane was flying over?

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mourningsunrises@reddit

I remember planes and helicopters messing with the reception on the TV. Then later when CB's became a craze, they'd mess up the tv and radio as well.

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AwayOutsideAgain@reddit

This was a thing of the past? It happened today for me.

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IceNein@reddit

Most airports have noise abatement procedures in their takeoff and landing charts, and aircraft are limited to 250kts IAS below 10,000 feet.

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ScreenTricky4257@reddit

They make significantly less now. They also fly smoother such that when they make a turn, your drink doesn't spill.

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Majik_Sheff@reddit

We lived in a trailer park just outside the fence at the end of the runway at Dyess Air Force Base.

Several times a day B-1s, B-52s, KC-135s, and many many others would take off and land.

We couldn't hang pictures on the walls without extra fasteners. My wife wonders why I'm such a heavy sleeper.

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ihatepickingnames_@reddit

I lived in a trailer park near Fairchild Air Force base and there were definitely times we had to stop talking when planes flew overhead.

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1989 - my first duty assignment was at Shaw AFB in South Carolina. Same, we lived in a trailer on the flight path of the runway. They had F-4 Phantoms. Loud MFs! Absolutely could not talk on the phone until they passed.

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kckitty71@reddit

I lived in a trailer park next to an Air National Guard base, and that was between 2 different naval bases. I heard nothing.

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mpls_big_daddy@reddit

Come to south Minneapolis and re-live your memory every 15 minutes from 6 am until 1 am!

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Antelope-Subject@reddit

Buckley AFB now Space Port Aurora Colorado always had jets flying over my house. Also played baseball near the old Denver airport landing path I was always watching the planes could care less about the ball.

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doomrabbit@reddit

I lived over a flyway for O'Hare airport in Chicagoland as a kid. Definitely louder in the past.

One thing that has changed is that computerized tracking allows planes to approach at a natural angle and slowly descend. Previously, they had to drop a few thousand feet rapidly and forming a stairstep appearance. This allowed the air traffic controllers to know the exact altitude and know that the 5k foot plane could safely pass over the 10k height plane. Nice round numbers, low time spent in an unknown altitude. Knew which layer any plane was on.

During the drop phase, engine noise would spike, creating a condition just like car engine braking. Very loud and concentrated to a small area because they were going slow on approach.

Short version - planes now take a slow angled descent instead of a stairsteped approach on the airport, which spiked engine noise on the drop.

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R67H@reddit

I went to boot camp in San Diego. It used to be next to the airport. Learning how to march and trying to listen to orders as the jets were coming and going at one of the busiest airports in California was challenging. Many push-ups were done for mis-hearing which direction to march.

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PicklesAndCoorslight@reddit

Yeah, I was a Military brat growing up. Lived on bases for the first 15 years of life.

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BlueMoon5k@reddit

Lived in an apartment that was close to airport. You get so used to it you don’t even realize you paused a conversation.

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Affectionate-Map2583@reddit

We lived under the flight path of the Concorde, which was extra loud. It was still pretty high up, since we were 30 miles from the airport where it landed. I remember you would hear it, look up, then have to look significantly ahead of where you heard the sound to see the plane.

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CookinCheap@reddit

Hello Basingstoke

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Affectionate-Map2583@reddit

Nope, it was the other end of the line - Maryland, 30 miles from Dulles Airport in Virginia.

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CookinCheap@reddit

Ohh. ok. Thought you meant LHR

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minikin_snickasnee@reddit

I lived semi-rural, and not close to any airports. Only time we heard planes was on the weekends, when small planes would fly overhead. There was someone around who owned a P-52 Mustang, then a few Cessnas and the like. Rarely a helicopter.

Now, I live in town, and not that far off from the local airport, so depending on the day, we might be under the flight path of some military planes, or a large plane taking off low and slow (looking at you, Amazon Air). Large planes, I have to pause because they're so LOUD. I have one of those apps that shows flight paths, so I'm sometimes curious to see what's making noise overhead.

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fucknozzle@reddit

I used to live about 8 miles from Heathrow, under the flight path.

Concorde used to go over a couple of times per day. When that was going on, all conversation stopped, you couldn't hear anything on the TV or radio.

It was stupidly loud.

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GuyFromLI747@reddit

I live by a coast guard station and an airforce base and when the coast guard flies out after a storm holy crap its still loud af..

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hypothetical_zombie@reddit

I live near an AFB and two airports.

The planes are not quieter when taking off or landing. And if they are, it's not noticeable.

(When we lived closer to the AFB, and they were developing the Stealth Bombers, one flew overhead & vibrated our trailer off its jacks. At least that doesn't happen anymore).

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RonPossible@reddit

I used to work in a building on the flight line shared with an active Air Force base. They had B-1 bombers, and when they'd take off, they set off all the car alarms.

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ZetaWMo4@reddit

I had some friends who went to a school where teachers had to stop teaching when a plane flew over. There was an international airport about 5 miles up the street.

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gt0163c@reddit

I grew up under the final approach/takeoff path for Detroit Metro Airport (DTW). My elementary school was at the end of my street and did not have air conditioning. So at the beginning and end of the school year, we had the windows open. We definitely all learned to pause what we were saying to let the airplanes pass. Then we'd just pick right back up. Teachers did it too. It became almost a reflex.

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EastTXJosh@reddit

I lived in two different apartments directly in the flight path for Love Field in Dallas. One was about 5 miles from the airport, the other about 2 miles away. I thought being 5 miles away the planes were loud, but the apartment that was 2 miles away from the airport would often shake when certain planes landed.

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RunRunRabbitRunovich@reddit

I live in the HIA flight path we still have to😂

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CookinCheap@reddit

Grew up a block from Midway Airport. With TRAINS behind our house. Talking on the phone was not an easy task.

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Ok-Fox1262@reddit

If you live near Heathrow then it's not even a conscious decision. Conversation stops for a while and recontinues where it left off.

It's really weird the first few times you visit people there then it becomes second nature.

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eroi49@reddit

This is a “location thing “ not a generational issue. I lived close to an airport for a few years as an adult but not growing up so this wasn’t a thing for me in the80’s

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Madeitup75@reddit

I grew up fairly close to a combined ANG/NAS/major aircraft manufacturer airbase. If you were playing outside and wanted to be heard by your friends, you either had to pause for 30 seconds every few minutes on busy flight days (naval reserve training weekends were the heaviest), or learn to make your voice really cut.

I use my voice a lot in my profession, and being able to project without screaming has been pretty useful. I’m now grateful for all those F-4’s and T-2’s doing touch and gos, and all the C-141s and C-5s coming in for refits.

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Usual_Day612@reddit

I never thought about this but you are right!! I do remember pausing conversations when planes flew overhead. Wow, never realized that planes got quieter. Thanks for the post!

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90sGuyKev@reddit

When did this stop? Still happening here

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Alternative-Dig-2066@reddit

Nothing has changed there, you can’t mute the plane.

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80Hilux@reddit

That's still my life, and I love it. It was F-16s, now F-35s. So cool to see those flying overhead.

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Avasia1717@reddit

i grew up about 10 miles from a navy base and fighters would fly directly over the house. fun times.

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Happy1327@reddit

How's the serenity?

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justananonguyreally@reddit

So much serenity

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Kissing13@reddit

Aside from the bug zapper, it's totally ripper

Wasn't it Bonny Doon that had the serenity? 3 Highview Crescent had the airplanes practically landing on top of it. Such a great movie. My husband and I quote it all the time. That and the Ladykillers (Coen Bros. version).

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queenofcaffeine76@reddit

I live under the flight line for a small airport a few miles away. We still frequently have to pause conversations. The week before & after the annual air show is the worst!

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nadiaco@reddit

yes. but I lived in or near air bases

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IntelligentPitch410@reddit

My mate, you E just moved. I get this every 5 am. Breaking news: trains still make lots of noise

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tvieno@reddit

Parts of my job take me near Luke AFB and when the flyboys take off at 7 am for their training, yeah, conversations outside do have that pause and go aspect.

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therian_cardia@reddit

There was something the Air Force flew into the local base back in the early 2000s that was the loudest turbine type engine I've ever heard. It wasn't a jet fighter sound, it was more of a grinding sound.

The factory I worked in had plenty of machines and I'd be wearing earphones and STILL hear only that plane coming overhead.

It was not a C17, those are whisper quiet compared to whateverthehell this was.

I moved away and the returned in 2012 to the same factory, and still there even today and haven't heard it again at all. Whatever it was, they stopped bringing them in around here between 2006 and 2012.

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AbruptMango@reddit

I didn't notice it then. I moved away, and then I noticed it hard every time I went back to visit.

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PahzTakesPhotos@reddit

I grew up on Army bases. We'd hear choppers and the distant "boom-boom" of artillery firing. When we lived on the base in Alaska, we were across an open field from the landing area. It was mostly choppers and other helicopter-ish things (my favorite to watch was the Chinook helicopters). As an adult, when we lived off base in Savannah, Georgia, we were just a few blocks away from the flight line of Hunter Army Airfield. And when we got quarters on base, we were RIGHT THERE. And Hunter had all kinds of aircraft- fighter jets, big ol' C-130s, choppers of varying sizes.

Looking back now, I wonder how loud that stuff really was (I was born deaf in one ear and hard-of-hearing in the other). If something was loud for me, I can't imagine how loud it was for all y'all.

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Humije@reddit

This is true. I grew up in the early 80s in Australia not even close to an airport and there were constant/daily breaks in conversation or tv watching as a plane went over. They were so loud back then.

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Shot_Independence274@reddit

i was born and lived for the first of my 26 years less than 1 km away from an international Airport.

i never heard any plane... didn`t bother me. i had a problem with the night train because it went over a river bridge and it whistled and that actually bothered me.

when my then gf now wife came started sleeping at my place she constantly complained that she didn`t sleep at all because the planes kept her awake. after 2 more years she started to not notice them also.