i work with gas turbines. about the coolest thing is the sound they make as they spool up to speed from a start. we just finished an outage and i got to hear it again, it never gets old. since it has to drive a heavy generator, that great sound drags out a lot longer than that of a jet engine starting. ahhhhh, the sound of power.

I like the initial spool of a turbine, but a JT8 is the most annoying thing on this planet. The most awesome sound is an RB211 with full takeoff power....Oh yeah!!!!

I have worked on Gas and Steam units and the Steam Units really crank out the sound of Power.
It is a little tense when the steam first hits the unit, sounds like the pipes are coming down.

We have a few generator buildings here at work.  I'm not sure of the specifics of the engines but I know they are huge turbo charged diesel engines.  When they fire up huge plumes of black smock roll across the property.  Its really cool.

J-79 in AB.  Ooh yeah!  Sounds much sweeter than a J-57 water burner (converted water into high decibel noise creating the illusion of thrust).  Of course four TF-33s spooling up for a standing TRT takeoff isn't bad either.  The F-117 (the engine, not the airplane) is much more subtle, but capable of getting your attention (a quiet 40,000 lbs of thrust).

However, after 2 1/2 decades working with jets my favorite engine sound is a radial.  Like the Harley of the skies.

Dont know the name of the engine, but the one I always thought sounded the coolest was the engines on the DC10 at WOT.


echo6