i understand tht the first two minutes while the SRBs are burning are
rough . . with some saying that it can be hard to read the panel.
Apparently things smooth out a lot once the solids are gone with the
term "Electric Ride" being used to describe the last two or three
minutes of the SSME burn as they gently throttle back to maintain the
3G acceleration.

I have always wondered about reentry. How smooth is it . . . is there
much, if any noise associated with it? At what point do you start
feeling turbulence? It may be with the benign weather they seek to
land in and the vehicle's high wing loading, you dont feel many bumps.
Having learned to fly in Florida though . . . it seems that there could
never be a smooth ride on a summer afternoon.

Blue skies

John