POWER OF REVERSE THRUSTS
 

Firstly, i'm posting this thread on this forum because i thhonk africa is renouned for some very good pilots (like SAA's - see my other thread). I am not a jet pilot, so i need YOU to answer this for me please.

Lets take the 737-800 for example. Sometimes on landing the reverse thrust is huge, roaring away, shaking the overhead lockers, almost deafening you! But sometimes it's still there but no where near as loud. Can the pilto control how loud the reverse thrust is? When it is louder is it moe powerful?

Thanks.

Yes they can,and yes ,it is.
It's like this: the reversers will open ,like you open the door of your car.Then you select more power from the engine (more noise) as you wish,like you'll stuck your foot out from the car to stop ,as hard as you wish (like Fred and Barney did,in Flinstones).
Try to compare the noise with the runway length-usually the shorter the rwy,the noisier the reverser is.
Brgds...

Although it is worth pointing out that the amount of reverse used on modern aircraft fitted with autobrakes does not affect stopping distance (it merely helps the brakes achieve a pre-set decelleration rate) - unless the runway braking action is poor.

Brakes
 

Most of our 737's has carbon brakes: http://www.compositesnews.com/cni.asp?articleID=10265

during normal operations we use reverse idle and let the wheelbrakes take most of the load.
If limited of short turnarounds or short runways let the engine reversers do their job.