B777 Engine Start

[mixturerich]

Anyone else notice how these things reverberate and how incredibly loud they are? I used to live in North Vancouver and could easily hear the triple’s start at YVR on a calm night. Unmistakeable. Pretty invigoratingly loud in the cabin too.

[altiplano]

You can't hear a 777 starting at YVR in North Vancouver There is no way..

[FighterPilot]

Ever hear a MU-2 taxi, or a HS748?

[altiplano]

Ever hear a MU-2 taxi, or a HS748?

Yeah, and not in North Van.

[North Shore]

Sure that it wasn't just your wife starting her vacuum cleaner?!

Here's a great engine sound..start at ~ 1:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewQaikxTUJs

[flyinhigh]

Ever hear a MU-2 taxi, or a HS748?

I live about 10 km from they Tbay airport out in the country. Even during the day I can hear the mighty MU2 strutting her stuff as she taxis out for departure.

[mixturerich]

You can't hear a 777 starting at YVR in North Vancouver There is no way..

Calling me a liar? I know what they sound like and I know what I was hearing. It’s a certain frequency that carries a really long way. Also my hearing is very sharp. I’m talking when it’s quiet and calm late at night, no traffic or city noise.

[Victory]

Absolutely you could hear it. Low frequencies travel very far. Higher frequencies like the HS748 might be ear splitting up close but don't travel very far. In Victoria I can easily hear airplanes at Whidbey Island which is much further than YVR to North Van.

[GRK2]

Rolls? GE? Which one? Ok...all kidding aside, both are huge fans which require a serious amount of air to get em turning. You could park a 737 inside the inlet. So to say it has a noise factor on start up is right, but all the way to NVAN?

I grew up across the river from YVR and recall the old CP DC8 (Empress 68 call sign?) start up at about 2300 for YYZ with the Rolls Conways...what a roar those made! Any one remember those?

[altiplano]

You can't hear a 777 starting at YVR in North Vancouver There is no way..

Calling me a liar? I know what they sound like and I know what I was hearing. It’s a certain frequency that carries a really long way. Also my hearing is very sharp. I’m talking when it’s quiet and calm late at night, no traffic or city noise.

I'm not calling you anything. But I've lived all around the city, closer to YVR than N.Van, and my experience is other. If you're all the way in N.Van, how can you be so sure it's a 777 start?

In Victoria I can easily hear airplanes at Whidbey Island which is much further than YVR to North Van.

Not much further and those are Navy turbojets and big props given err out of NAS Whidbey and that's straight across the water... sound carries on water... N.Van is on the otherside of the city... up the hill, down the hill, through all the trees, homes, buildings... lots of city sounds...

[mixturerich]

Because it sounds like a 777 starting up, that’s how I know. Ever sat inside one as well? Sometimes they vibrate so much you can feel it in your bones. It’s a reaaally low frequency. I don’t recall what engines it was. I always hear it in pairs at the same intervals too, just like engine starts. I’m amazed it travels so far but it is an extremely low frequency.

[pelmet]

I used to live about 5 miles from an airport that regularly got 707's from the miltary. Sometimes I would hear them at night taking off in the direction away from where I lived. How did I know that it was a 707 taking off......I had a radio and used to listen to the ATC. A couple of minutes later, I would hear a rumble in the middle of the night which was quite distinct.

But........this only happened on nights with low clouds convincing me that a low cloud deck seems to reflect sound. A 777 starting up does make a very cool sound(at least the ones with the GE-90) but not nearly as loud as a 707. Still, assuming what you say is true, have you noticed if this was only on cloudy nights?

[Schooner69A]

A low cloud deck does reflect sound. While living in Quispamis NB, on a night with low cloud cover, you routinely heard the guns firing into the Gagetown training area. (And before anybody asks: I was a FAC, so I know a "whomp" when I hear a "whomp"...)

[pelmet]

Because it sounds like a 777 starting up, that’s how I know. Ever sat inside one as well? Sometimes they vibrate so much you can feel it in your bones. It’s a reaaally low frequency. I don’t recall what engines it was. I always hear it in pairs at the same intervals too, just like engine starts. I’m amazed it travels so far but it is an extremely low frequency.

The GE-90 does make some cool sounds on start-up all though the intensity of the vibration on start seems to vary from flight to flight making me wonder if it might have something to do with rotor bow and therefore how long it has been since it was running. I have noticed that the E-190 seems to make a very deep throated growl on start when it is cold outside but much less in the summer. But my favourite is still the RB-211 on the L-1011.

I think you need to have the right speakers to hear the baritone start portion for this L-1011...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DfTX-IAkdg

This sound may bring back good(or bad) memories for HS-748 drivers....maybe you were good at synching them up in cruise
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlg9p9JX6KY

For those lucky enough to fly the Convair 580, you can listen to the start of the Allison 501 here. And hear him go to normal speed at 7:30.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7v3n7im80E
And you can get the Allison shutdown sound here(but not the normal speed to low speed unfortunately)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_ctIN1SpTU
But you can hear normal speed to low speed on all four at 2:10 of this video.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35-oP8-KH-g

Miss the sound of a JT-8D?...so do I. Try this, although not all the start-up noises are heard here(being ground crew on the headset hears the initial whoosh of the start valve opening)....Something you will never hear on the flight deck(or on a 727 where you hear nothing at all).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EpX_uxIaOo

This PT-6 one has to bring back memories for a few on this forum. Once again, not all start-up noises are heard and a little beta sound is always nice as well...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t0_OIcjLx4

PW-100 is kinda like a PT-6 yet it is different and sounds cool(and the prop has barely started turning when the engine lights off - free turbine stuff)...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDCHR7GAIUw&t=17s

I always thought two engines starting at the same time was cool(but I did see three at once on a C-130J)....4 and 3 did light off simultaneously but you can hear engines 2 and 1 light off a half second apart, likely because the fuel levers were selected on that way. CF-6 does have a bit of a growl as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vn9_55gATw

I may have been lucky enough to experience this sound at work on more than one of these engine types....but not all.

[20DMEYYZ]

Ever hear a MU-2 taxi, or a HS748?

I live about 10 km from they Tbay airport out in the country. Even during the day I can hear the mighty MU2 strutting her stuff as she taxis out for departure.

could also be metros! you also reminded me of the thu/j7 race from fort frances where the mu2 just got in first having made a faster slide.

[20DMEYYZ]

our cf18s have a nice deep s/u tone that can be heard from some dist as well !!!

[FICU]

JT8D-9s without hush kits make joyous sounds and shake your bones on a nice cold winter day!

[confusedalot]

Now ancient Tristar, which all had RB211. Also made serious smoke on cold days that today would be mistaken as some sort of engine fire. Out of coincidence, ended up flying one, can't hear anything in the flight deck.

[FADEC]

The GE90-115 (777-300ER, 777-200LR) has a very distinct resonance just before reaching idle. It is very distinctive and can be heard a long way away.
I used to point out to students (Line Indoc) that the resonance was an audio cue that the start cycle was finishing.
Speaking of noises; the Spey on the BAC 111 has a distinctive start noise, as did the RR Conway engine on the DC8.
The BAC 111 was a useful alarm clock if you stayed in the Airport Hilton at Dorval!
If you were on the runway side of the "Round Hilton", the Quebecair BAC 111 leaving at 06:00 made an alarm clock redundant.
You can start two engines at once on the A340. This was the SOP.

[crazy horse]

OP, I know exactly what you are saying. The most distinctive sounding airliner I've ever heard.
And the first time I sat in one at start up was "wow" inducing.