You mention looking at the crews faces when you hear noises to see if they are looking concerned. If that is one thing that worries you when flying maybe knowing what these things are may help a bit. Information can really put your mind at ease and the more you know about what is going on the more relaxed you will feel.
I will give you a step by step basic idea of the main things.
When you first get on the plane have a look by the wings and see if they are putting fuel in the plane, they may have finished already but if they are the seatbelt sign will be off. Once it goes on it means fueling is finished. The engine cowls may also be open, this is a routine thing as they need oil etc just like cars, it does not mean there are problems. Oil is usually put in after every flight as the engines are designed to use a bit whilst running.
Once seated the crew will be helping others to their seats and making sure no items are in the way. Once everyone is on board they will close the doors and start the safety presentation, may start it before they close the doors or may do it after.
Once the doors are closed the pilots will be asking if they can start the engines and push back from the parking spot. Sometimes this may take a while as other aircraft may be in the way.
Once you start to move you will notice the air conditioning system loses most of its power, this is because the pilots are about to start the engines which use air pressure from the small engine at the back to start the main engines. You will hear them both start to make lots of noise. Once both engines are started you will notice the air conditioning come back to full force as it is now using the main engines to provide its power.
Also at about this time the crew will arm the doors, this just means that if they are opened the slides will inflate so you can understand why they would be disarmed when the plane is parked as you would not want one to inflate at the stand. They will say something along the lines of "arm doors and cross check" before doing this. One crew member will arm the door by removing a pin with a red flag (you can see it on every main door when you first get on the plane) and moving a lever and then another crew will check it has been done correctly.
Before you move after the engines are started and you have finished the push back from the parking spot you will see the flaps at the back of the wing extend, this makes quite a noise and you can usually hear it even if you are not able to see it. During this time the pilots are checking everything is OK and setting the aircraft up for take off. The ground engineer who would have been talking to the pilots through a microphone point by the nose wheel will disconnect and you may see him walk away from the aircraft if you are on the correct side. You may notice them also do a flight control check so the surfaces on the wing will move one way then the other, this is done before every flight but sometimes a bit later when you are taxiing to the runway.
Now you are ready to taxi to the runway the pilots will ask air traffic control if they can start to move, this again may take a few minutes depending how busy it is around you.
Once you start to move you may feel a slight braking almost straight away, this is the pilots checking the brakes, you may not feel it as is usually very lightly done.
The cabin crew will probably be dashing around making the final checks of the cabin and the passengers. You may also hear some bings or bongs and see lights on the roof by the galleys lighting up. This is just the crew communicating with one another so as to make sure the whole aircraft is ready to take off.
Once the plane is almost at the runway there will be a signal to the crew to sit down, may be a PA from the flight deck or may be some other signal. They all sit down and inform the pilots that the cabin is fully prepared for take off, if they still need more time the pilots will wait until they get the signal from the cabin crew.
If you can see out the window and notice yourself passing a red sign with white numbers next to the taxiway it means you are entering the runway and about to take off.
Once cleared to take off the pilots will do their final checks and line up in the centre of the runway, even if you are not at the very beginning of the runway there are calculations done with large safety margins to make sure that even if there is a problem there is enough space to take off or stop at any time during the departure safely. If its night you will notice the white strobes on the wingtips get turned on at this point.
Once you start to go you will notice the engines initially get set to a low power setting, this is just to help them accelerate together smoothly. Almost as soon as this is done they will set take off power and you will start to accelerate more quickly and the engines will both go to full power.
Once you are moving one pilot will be controlling the plane and the other will be looking at all the indications to make sure everything is normal.
Once you get in the air and are on your way you will probably hear some mechanical noise, maybe also with clicks or clunks, this is just the wheels being raised.
You will continue at full power in a steep climb until you are at 1,500 feet above the ground. At this point which is about 1 minute after you leave the ground you may notice the nose pitch down slightly and one thing you will notice for sure is the engines reduce quite a bit in power. As the plane starts to speed up after this due to the lowering of the nose not the reducing in power of course you will either see or hear the flaps that were required for take off get retracted. This is so the plane can fly quicker with less drag. Depending on the flap setting used this will either happen in one go or they may retract the flaps a bit then wait for the aircraft to speed up a bit more and then retract them a bit more until the wing no longer has them sticking out and down from the back of it.
Once the pilots are happy that there are not likely to be any more bumps they will indicate to the cabin crew it is ok for them to walk about and start work. Usually done by cycling the seatbelt sign so you may see it flash and make a bing or two.
Due to air traffic you may not be able to go straight away to your cruising level so may have to stop climbing once, twice or a few times. If this happens the engine power will drop off even more and the nose will pitch down, once cleared to climb again the engines will roar back to climb power and the nose will pitch up once more. It also depends on how the pilots decide to do the climb, if they know they will get held lower they may increase the speed by lowering the nose but engine power may remain high, doing this takes longer to climb so they are hoping that before they reach the height they have been told to stop at they will be cleared even higher. If they have done this and get cleared higher again they may slow down by raising the nose so you would feel a bit of G force as they do this especially if you are also turning at the same time. Engine power may or may not change when they are doing it that way but you would notice the pitch changes and g force.
So you have finally made it to the cruising altitude. Not too noisy and the plane will be pitched nose up at about 2.5 degrees. This is how it flies when it is not climbing or descending. If you walk to the loo or look down the isle you will notice this if you look for it.
As a plane gets lighter due to fuel being burned it becomes more efficient to fly higher so at some point you may notice the engine power increase as you start to climb to the better altitude.
Due to air traffic you may have to descend though if there are other planes at the same level close by, don't worry they never get that close it depends where you are and what sort of radar the air traffic controller has. In some parts of the world you need 15 minutes between aircraft on the same route at the same level and that is about 100 miles. So you never get that close if at the same level. You may see some aircraft pass close by, over or under but they will be either 1000 feet or more above or below you, if one goes right under or over you it can look very close but will be at least 1000 feet above or below you.
If you have to descend because of other airplanes you will hear the engine power drop off and will feel the plane start to descend. You may also feel the pressure change in the cabin. This is all totally normal. I have had to descend from 34,000 feet down to 28,000 feet before due to aircraft and then we went back to 34,000 feet about 30 minutes later. Probably will just be 2,000 feet either up or down but larger changes do happen.
Seat belt signs come on any time the pilots think it may be a bit bumpy, it is not a problem and at the time of year where you are flying there will be no really bad weather. If they come on it will most likely be because they have heard other planes complain of bumps or there is some clouds with rain in them that they will fly through.
Once you get close to the point where you will start to descend for landing the crew will be starting to prepare the cabin, the captain will probably make a PA to have a chat. This will be about 200 miles from your destination.
Once the descent starts the engines will come back to near idle power and the plane will pitch down the pressurisation system may make a sudden change that you will feel in your ears. As with the initial climb you may have to stop at a certain height on the way down, once twice or a few times. Engine power will increase and the nose will pitch up. If you have to come down a bit faster the pilot may use the speed brakes, if you notice the plane start to shudder and you ca hear a wind like roar look at the wing and you will see some panels on the upper surface of the wing raised to help the plane slow down and descend to comply with air traffic control instructions. Happens on about 50% of flights so will probably happen either going or coming back.
At about 20,000 feet the seatbelts will go on, may have been on earlier depending on the conditions during the descent.
Once the pilots want to start slowing down for landing you will hear the same thing as when the flaps were raised after takeoff, this is them extending the flaps and they normally get extended more for landing than when you took off. It is often bumpy as you get closer to the ground due to changes in wind speed and direction and the pilots will be relaxed even if you think it is bumpy as have done it thousands of times before.
Once the plane is starting the final approach the engines will increase in power to slow the descent rate and maintain the speed the pilots want. During the final few thousand feet the engines will be going up and down a lot in noise and power, this is totally normal, you may also feel the acceleration and deceleration as this happens, the closer you get to the ground the more it may change. If it is really calm you may not notice it as much but if it is gusty you will definitely be aware of this. It is how planes fly in gusty winds and is totally normal :-)
At about 2500 feet you will hear that mechanical noise again as the landing gear is lowered, this time accompanied by the sound of rushing air from outside, its just the wheels in the airflow, you would not notice it on take off as you are not flying as fast at that point and the engine sound will drown it out. Once the wheels are down the pilots will continue to slow the aircraft and the flaps will be extended some more.
About 20 feet above the runway the engines will go to idle power and the nose will pitch up slightly. Once the main wheels touch down you will notice those speed brakes on the wing lift up again to help slow you down. The engines will soon go back to what sounds like full power (it is not), this is them pushing air forwards to help slow the plane, it sounds quite dramatic but does not mean you are running out of runway. With the airline you fly on they have a short time on the ground before they go back so want to keep the brakes cool as there is a max temperature for take off and it takes them a while to cool down. So they will probably be using lots of engine breaking and not as much wheel braking.
Once slow the engines will go back to sounding normal, the plane will turn off the runway and you will see the speed brakes retract once the plane is off the runway followed shortly by the flaps.
Once parked doors will go back to disarmed and engines will be shut down.
Hope this helps as I always find it nicer if you know what to expect and can explain why something is happening to yourself rather than relying on the body language of others.
Last edited by SloppyJoe; 24th January 2011 at 15:01.