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What sound does a jet engine make?

Author

Jessica Burns

Published Feb 22, 2026

What sound does a jet engine make?

It is a deafening roar. The air shakes with the roar of the engines. When the F17s take off at combat speed, afterburners rip through the sky as though the jet is literally tearing the air in two. Just before landing I can hear the squeaks and whines of machinery in the flaps and wings.

Similarly one may ask, why does a jet engine make noise?

The noise from a jet comes from two sources – the engine itself and the reaction the exhaust has with the surrounding air. The hot exhaust makes a sound of it's own. After it leaves the turbine and exits the nozzle, the exhaust is traveling at a much faster rate than the air flowing around it.

Also Know, what are afterburners on a jet? The idea behind an afterburner is to inject fuel directly into the exhaust stream and burn it using this remaining oxygen. This heats and expands the exhaust gases further, and can increase the thrust of a jet engine by 50% or more. Therefore most planes use afterburners sparingly.

Similarly, what frequency is a jet engine?

315-6300 Hz

What is the loudest sound on earth?

Krakatoa

Can loud noise kill you?

The general consensus is that a loud enough sound could cause an air embolism in your lungs, which then travels to your heart and kills you. Alternatively, your lungs might simply burst from the increased air pressure. High-intensity ultrasonic sound (generally anything above 20KHz) can cause physical damage.

Can you hear a plane at 30 000 feet?

Double that distance, and deduct 6; that would be 94 decibels at 2000 feet, 88 decibels at 4000 feet, 82 decibels at 8000 feet, 76 decibels at 16,000 feet, and 70 decibels from a jet flying overhead at 32,000 feet. Conversation in a crowded restaurant would be around 60 decibels.

Are planes louder taking off or landing?

You can land an airplane with the engines off. As others have said, the aircraft will produce more noise at take-off, due to the high engine power. However, if you are an observer on the ground under, or near, the flight path, you may find that on landing the aircraft seems louder.

Why fighter jet is expensive?

Fighter jets are expensive because they are highly complex state of the art machines, produced in ever smaller numbers and purchased only by governments. Fighter jets represent the latest state of the art advances in nearly every field of technology.

What is the loudest jet engine?

The XF-84H was almost certainly the loudest aircraft ever built, earning the nickname "Thunderscreech" as well as the "Mighty Ear Banger". On the ground "run ups", the prototypes could reportedly be heard 25 miles (40 km) away.

Why do planes not sound at night?

Aeroplanes make sound both during the day and night time. At night, the temperature of air is less than that of day time. Since, speed of sound depends upon the air temperature, the speed of sound at night is also less. So it is quieter at night time and the intensity of sound depends on speed of sound.

Why are propellers so loud?

An airplanes propeller causes compression and rarefaction of the air, setting air molecules in motion roughly 4,800 times a minute in the case of a two-blade propeller. This type of noise increases with aircraft speed as well as at low altitudes due to the air's density.

What frequency is airplane noise?

The frequency (pitch) of a sound is expressed as Hertz (Hz) or cycles per second. The normal audible frequency for young adults is 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz. Community noise, including aircraft and motor vehicles, typically ranges between 50 Hz and 5,000 Hz.

What is the sound of Aeroplane called?

The sound of an aeroplane can be conveniently separated into two parts ; a hum, and the unmusical remainder which may be called a roar.

How does a jet engine start?

The electric motor spins the main shaft until there is enough air blowing through the compressor and the combustion chamber to light the engine. Fuel starts flowing and an igniter similar to a spark plug ignites the fuel. Then fuel flow is increased to spin the engine up to its operating speed.

Why are afterburners so loud?

The noise is mainly caused by the huge difference in velocity between the exhaust of the jet engine and the surrounding air. Modern jet fighters usually use low bypass turbofans with the addition of an afterburner, which increases the noise even further if activated.

How long can a jet fly on afterburner?

In full afterburner at low altitudes, the F-16 can burn in excess of 64,000 pounds an hour. At full throttle, a U.S.-variant F-16 with maximum external fuel stores has about 20 minutes until it's on emergency reserves (which would only last an extra minute or so at full afterburner).

Why do afterburners have rings?

They can be formed by either over-expansion or under-expansion of the exhaust gases. The diamonds form at the transition from sonic to supersonic flow which occurs immediately on the "downstream" side of a rocket or jet engine nozzle.

Did Concorde have afterburners?

The Concorde uses its afterburners for take off, and for accelleration (and climb) from roughly Mach 0.9 to Mach 1.7. There is no way it could stretch over any significant range in case it had to use afterburner for cruising.

How does a jet engine burn fuel?

The compressor is made with many blades attached to a shaft. The blades spin at high speed and compress or squeeze the air. The compressed air is then sprayed with fuel and an electric spark lights the mixture. The burning gases expand and blast out through the nozzle, at the back of the engine.

How hot is jet exhaust?

In the combustion chamber, just behind the compressor, the kerosene mixes with the compressed air and burns fiercely, giving off hot exhaust gases and producing a huge increase in temperature. The burning mixture reaches a temperature of around 900°C (1650°F).

Can turbofans go supersonic?

Efficiency. Turbofans are the most efficient engines in the range of speeds from about 500 to 1,000 km/h (310 to 620 mph), the speed at which most commercial aircraft operate. Turbofans retain an efficiency edge over pure jets at low supersonic speeds up to roughly Mach 1.6 (1,960.1 km/h; 1,217.9 mph).

Why are Russian afterburners blue?

Afterburners all produce yellow light from the lower temperature gas molecules and and blue light from the highest temperature gas molecules. Incidentally these blue colored flames are indicative of a much hotter exhaust gas temperature than an orange colored exhaust.