Why do people clap when the plane lands and is the practice finally dying out?

CLAPPING when the plane lands used to be all the rage in the 1980s, but these days there are few things that annoy passengers more.

But why do passengers applaud on landing? There are a number of psychological and cultural reasons.

Read on to find out more...

It’s the human survival instinct kicking in

According to the body language expert Judi James, some people just can’t help the clapping.

She told Sun Online Travel: “Subliminally, it’s a moment of shared survival because even for seasoned travellers – the moment of landing is most dangerous.

“It’s very dramatic as often you feel the wheels bounce underneath – so it’s nothing like pulling into a station for instance.

“Most people don’t realise they will be tense and holding breath.

“But then we’re embarrassed by our own fear and it puts us back in control if we make a lot of noise together – it doesn’t make us look like the cowards we are feeling like.”

It’s the end of a show

While we might be relieved – flying is also still a special experience for many and landing feels like the end of the show.

Judi said: “There is a certain theatricality about flying - we feel like we have been an audience with the captain’s voice coming over the speakers.

We feel like we should applaud it like we have just watched a play – and because the pilot usually speaks in a nice voice this applause is our slightly posh sign of reward.

It’s a cultural thing

People from certain countries are far more likely to clap than others.

For instance, the Romanians and the Russians are both known for applauding when the plane lands and it’s all to do with their history.

George Matache, a Romanian, said on Quora: “Romanians applaud every time, especially on the low cost flights - for the most part is [down to] lack of education and especially lack of flying-related education.

“Until 1989, when the Romanian revolution took place, very few Romanians were allowed to cross the border, so being on an aeroplane was as likely as flying on a space shuttle.

“Then while in 1990 travelling abroad became "legal", due to prohibitive pricing very few people could afford to buy a plane ticket.”

Is the practice dying out?

In the 1980s and 1990s, clapping on planes was a regular occurrence – but these days it has become fairly rare on British flights.

According to Judi James, that’s for two reasons – the first is that people nowadays feel a lot safer in the air.

She said: “We have a lower expectation of having an accident in the plane these days - there was a time in the 1980s in 1990s when you’d hear something on the news regularly, but now you hear nothing.

“The fear of flying has changed slightly these days– it’s less about take-off and landing and more about terrorism.”

But more importantly – it’s just desperately uncool.

Judi said: “There is a huge snobbery around flying and air travel – everyone wants to make it look like they are Kim Kardashian and fly all the time.

“Applauding when the plane lands does make you look a little bit like it’s your first time in the air.

“It is strange though, because applause is such a contagious thing - like we saw at Princess Diana’s funeral.

“But in this instance, it is something that people just refuse to follow.”