> > I particularly enjoyed Sam's report on small airplane and their associated noises.
>
> If you ever fly on an Airbus A320, don't worry if - just before takeoff - you get the impression that under your seat there's a barking dog (or a growling lion, in hotter weather).
>
> As far as small planes (like Cessna 172s and such) are concerned, their noise level is so peculiar and characteristic that everyone of the C172M at my flight school has his "particular" engine/flap motor/structural noise.

I can't remember any strange noises on an A320, but I haven't flown on one for two or three years.

Most of the Cessna's I've flown in have been 172's. They do seem to rattle around a bit, but nothing out of the ordinary for small airplanes.

757's have a very unjetlike noise. It is a buzz that sounds more like a prop plane than a jet. Jets get my attention when the wheels come up after take off. Most of them sound and feel like something is falling apart.

The worst large airplane noise that I can remember was a military cargo plane calle a C-97. It is a cargo version of the B-29 bomber. As it taxied out to the runway, about 10 miles per hour, it creaked and groaned until I wondered if I really wanted to fly in that thing. But once in the air, wheels up and trimmed for cruise, it was as solid as a rock. I was amazed at how slowly those big propellers turned at cruise. I got to go up in the cockpit and talk to the pilot and he said it was very easy to fly compared to other large prop planes.

Are you planning a career as a pilot?
Howard