Thrust reversal

Temporarily diverting a jet engine's output such that the hot gases are blown forward rather than backwards, causing the resulting force to act against the normal (forward) travel of the aircraft. Reverse thrust is used by many jet aircraft to help slow down just after touch-down, thus reducing wear on the brakes, and enabling the aircraft to use shorter runways.

The application of reverse thrust can be identified by a sudden increase in volume and pitch of the engines' sound just after touch-down.