How Pink Floyd Recorded a Real Jet Engine for 'Learning to Fly' — and Why Gilmour Was Taking Flying Lessons

For the 1987 track “Learning to Fly,” David Gilmour and the production team didn’t just sample a jet engine sound — they rented a hangar, mic’d up an actual Rolls-Royce turbine, and recorded it at full throttle. Engineer Andy Jackson placed microphones near the intake and exhaust while the engine was run through various power settings, capturing a roar that was then mixed into the song’s intro and the soaring break between verses. The result is a sound that’s unmistakably real; you can hear the whine and compression shift in a way no synth or sample could fake.

At the same time, Gilmour had been taking flying lessons — a longtime fascination that finally