He flattens his hand against the side of Toothless's neck, trying to soothe him as they start to descend. "Nope, not a good thing," he says out loud, though there's something sort of resigned to his voice. Why is he not surprised that this is happening? "Hey, don't worry about it - we'll land and figure out what's going on."

Because even in a land with a magical castle, Hiccup is assuming that it's simply a gear malfunction.