Travelling is fun, but for many people it can cause a huge deal of anxiety.
Whether it’s turbulence or other rocky moments during a flight, some people can’t handle the fear. Now you might have noticed there’s a mysterious ding which sounds during moments of your trip.
Luckily one pilot has finally revealed what the sound means – and it’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Captain Steve, who boasts 248,100 followers on TikTok, shared information in one his videos online.
He said: “So you’re sitting in the back of the airplane and you hear this… And you think hmm is that random ding? Is there a purpose behind that ding? And a little bit later you hear this… There’s that ding again, it happened a second time.
“Is there a rhyme or a reason, well the answer is yes. I chime the flight attendants three separate times during the flight on purpose. The first time as we’re taxiing out and you’ll hear the announcement – ‘flight attendants prepare for departure’.”
He continued: “Shortly after that, I’m cleared for take-off when I’m cleared to go onto the runway and take-off, I turn that no smoking sign on and off and give them a ding that’s their final warning, take a seat, we’re about to take-off.”
The pilot then explained he would signal again as the aircraft ascends through 10,000ft. He elaborated: “I reach up and grab that no smoking sign again and give them another ding to let them know it’s safe to get up and start their service.
“When it’s the third time, after that PA on descent when I say ‘flight attendants prepare for landing’ as we’re coming back down through 10,000ft, I ding them one more time.
“That way they know they’ve only got a few minutes left to get everything cleaned up and put away, because we’re about to land. Now you know.”
After sharing his post, it quickly went viral, amassing 814,000 likes and 6,500 comments. One user confessed: “The ding always gives me anxiety,” while another humorously remarked: “I thought it was someone buzzing for the flight attendants *laughing emoji*.”
A third gratefully commented: “Thanks for telling me, I always thought the plane was about to crash.”