Mysterious Voice Haunting American Airlines Flights
Over the summer of 2022 there have been reports of mysterious moaning sounds during several American Airlines flights. The moans have been described as a guttural human voice crying out in pain but the source of the voice has not been found.
Reports of the Mysterious Voices
The most notable report comes from Actor Emerson Collins. He posted the following tweet recording the sounds and adding his commentary.
It was initially assumed the voices were just a prank from someone who had found a way to sneakily use the aircrafts PA system until it began happening over and over again on different flights.
JonNYC on twitter pulled together a handful of different reports in a twitter thread:
The twitter thread contains several different reports from airline employees and frequent flyers on both Boeing 737-800 and Airbus A321 planes.
Other people have reported hearing similar sounds on flights as far back as July 2022. The flights are always American Airlines and usually flying around the greater Los Angeles area. Waxy.org have compiled a list of the occurrences of the strange voices in chronological order.
July – On an American Airlines flight from JFK to LAX. Bradley P. Allen wrote that he heard strange pained sounding groans coming from the aircraft sound system four or five times. The aircrew didn’t seem to know where it was coming from.
August 5 – On American Airlines 117 from JFK to LAX. Wendy Wanderman wrote that it happened on her flight. The flight attendants said it had happened on the same plane a few days earlier but they hadn’t been able to figure out where it was coming from.
September 6 – On an American Airlines flight from Santa Ana, CA to Dallas-Fort Worth. This was Emerson Collins’ flight. He claims the sounds started over the intercom before the plane took off and continued during the flight.
Mid-September – On an American Airlines Airbus A320 flight from Orlando, FL to Dallas-Fort Worth. Doug Boehner wrote that there were lots of weird noises including an “oh yeah” just before landing. He assumed the pilot had just left his mic on.
September 18 – American Airlines flight 1631 from Santa Ana, CA to Dallas-Fort Worth on a Boeing 737-800. An anonymous report to JohnNYC claimed there were lots of moaning and screaming noises coming through the intercom. The voice sounded male and would only last 5-10 seconds before stopping.
Official Response From American Airlines
View from the Wing’s Gary Leff asked American Airlines about what could be causing the issue. Their official response is that they are having problems with the PA system malfunctioning on several of their aircraft. Well… obviously!
Possible Explanations
Some have speculated that someone is hacking into the PA system somehow and making the strange noises as a prank. The intercom systems on these aircraft are closed, analog systems which make it very difficult for anyone to hack into them without physically picking up the microphone or phone or physically connecting a device to the wired system.
The most likely explanation is it’s an issue with the PA amplifier system which has a filter on it that removes any sound that isn’t a human voice leaving only sounds which sound human. Some have disputed this explanation as the sounds seem to have exceptional comedic timing as if there is someone human pulling the prank.
If we are to venture into the paranormal we could speculate that the system is capturing EVPs of spirits who happen to be attached to the aircraft.
Whatever the cause of the strange noises on American Airlines flights they are certainly entertaining!
If you enjoyed this article you may also like to read about a strange audio message during the Queen’s funeral or phone calls from beyond the grave.
