Pilots: The A-380 is too quiet to get rest in

Nick

Well-Known Member
http://www.flightglobal.com/article...ts-sleep-after-crews-find-a380-too-quiet.html

Airbus to help Emirates pilots sleep after crews find A380 'too quiet'
By Murdo Morrison


Weary Emirates Airbus A380 pilots are complaining that they cannot sleep in their crew-rest area in the aft main cabin because the aircraft is too quiet.

The pilots say that the lack of engine noise in the A380's cabin compared with other long-haul airliners means they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers, such as crying babies, flushing vacuum toilets and call bells. Passengers also mistake the rest area for a lavatory, and pull the door handle.

The Dubai-based carrier has asked Airbus for a solution that does not involve substantially adding weight, which rules out insulating the walls of the rest area, situated at the rear of the all-economy main deck, says Emirates senior vice-president, fleet, Capt Ed Davidson.
"We are expecting to hear back from them by the middle of the month," says Davidson, who admits that the airframer has "overdelivered" on its noise promises on the airline's Engine Alliance GP7200-powered A380s. One option could be installing lightweight generators to create ambient noise.

"We're getting a lot of complaints. It's not something we expected," says Davidson. "On our other aircraft, the engines drown out the cabin noise. [On the A380] the pilots sleep with earplugs but the cabin noise goes straight through them."

Emirates is the only A380 operator so far to have situated the crew-rest areas at the rear of the main deck. It did not opt for Airbus' standard option of locating the pilots' compartment behind the cockpit as it would have compromised the design of the airline's upper deck first-class cabin, while the alternative location of the cargo hold was rejected as it thought crew would find it "claustrophobic".
 
It might be cheaper for them to pay someone to design earplugs which will filter the appropriate sound range (for cabin ambient noise) than to modify a fleet of aircraft. Just a thought....
 
How about foam earplugs? I use them in our crew room and it helps me sleep tremendously. Plus it's cheaper than an aircraft modification.

Hello?!!
 
Just install a music player or one of those sounds of the ocean players in the rest area.
 
Bring an ipod for crap sake. Keep some light classical music on repeat and you're out like a light. :)
 
This is actually a very serious issue with the A380 crews. Emirates has modified the size and location of every manufacturer crew rest area. Always for the worse, in regards to crew comfort and usefullness. The A380 pilots tell me they can clearly hear passenger conversations through whatever little wall separates their rest area from the main cabin.

Crews on long haul flights require adequate rest in order to safely operate the aircraft. The article is a bit of spin doctoring by EK and Airbus. If they would have just taken the Airbus designed rest area in the first place this wouldn't be an issue.


Typhoonpilot
 
I have a hard time sleeping simply knowing that a plane that ugly is flying... I don't have to actually be anywhere near the thing.
 
I think there might be something to this. The best airplane sleep I have ever had was on a C-130. The airplane has a drone like no other bar some of the old WW2 bombers I assume. We either set up gurneys or sling a hammock in the back. I have passed out for nearly an entire Atlantic crossing (6 to 8 hrs).

I agree with the idea of ambient noise makers. They need to have them, kinda like the noise canceling devices, but a multi-speaker system to introduce ambient noise....

-Dave
 
http://www.flightglobal.com/article...ts-sleep-after-crews-find-a380-too-quiet.html

Airbus to help Emirates pilots sleep after crews find A380 'too quiet'
By Murdo Morrison


Weary Emirates Airbus A380 pilots are complaining that they cannot sleep in their crew-rest area in the aft main cabin because the aircraft is too quiet.

The pilots say that the lack of engine noise in the A380's cabin compared with other long-haul airliners means they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers, such as crying babies, flushing vacuum toilets and call bells. Passengers also mistake the rest area for a lavatory, and pull the door handle.

The Dubai-based carrier has asked Airbus for a solution that does not involve substantially adding weight, which rules out insulating the walls of the rest area, situated at the rear of the all-economy main deck, says Emirates senior vice-president, fleet, Capt Ed Davidson.
"We are expecting to hear back from them by the middle of the month," says Davidson, who admits that the airframer has "overdelivered" on its noise promises on the airline's Engine Alliance GP7200-powered A380s. One option could be installing lightweight generators to create ambient noise.

"We're getting a lot of complaints. It's not something we expected," says Davidson. "On our other aircraft, the engines drown out the cabin noise. [On the A380] the pilots sleep with earplugs but the cabin noise goes straight through them."

Emirates is the only A380 operator so far to have situated the crew-rest areas at the rear of the main deck. It did not opt for Airbus' standard option of locating the pilots' compartment behind the cockpit as it would have compromised the design of the airline's upper deck first-class cabin, while the alternative location of the cargo hold was rejected as it thought crew would find it "claustrophobic".

I could easily fall asleep in the hondo, ours had so little insulation to keep weight down that the only thing keeping you awake sometimes was cold. Other times it was the "nudge game."

Me - "Hey, dude, are you awake?"
Response - "Uhh, yeah." Rubs eyes.

30 minutes later

Captain - "Hey, you doin' alright?"
Me - "Uhh, yeah." Rubs eyes.

The longest one way we had was 4 hours or so, and it was brutal if it was late, or really early.
 
The longest one way we had was 4 hours or so, and it was brutal if it was late, or really early.

I hate to play toppers, but the longest leg that I've done so far was around 5.7 hrs in the metro....by myself. It was from ELP to Kenosha Wisconsin. The totals on the amount of flyng that day was around 7.5 hrs. After I got down and unloaded the 1500lbs of cargo or so, the dispatcher asked was I going to call it a night in Kenosha. Uh YEAH!
 
I hate to play toppers, but the longest leg that I've done so far was around 5.7 hrs in the metro....by myself. It was from ELP to Kenosha Wisconsin. The totals on the amount of flyng that day was around 7.5 hrs. After I got down and unloaded the 1500lbs of cargo or so, the dispatcher asked was I going to call it a night in Kenosha. Uh YEAH!

More than about 5hrs in an airplane at once is terrible. That being said, there were more than a few days at ace where I blocked 10hrs, and that sucks.
 
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