The Airbus A380's Quietness Made Sleeping Harder for Pilots | Hacker News Reader

The Airbus A380's Quietness Made Sleeping Harder for Pilots

simpleflying.com

22 pointsindus8 comments

> Airbus typically places the crew area at the front of the aircraft, right behind the cockpit. To maximize space for first class seating, however, Emirates opted to move the crew area to the rear of the aircraft. This places it closer to the noise from the economy cabin.

This seems like the core problem, no? Emirates execs prioritized expanding their first-class passengers amenities over their pilots rest. Unless first-class passengers are also complaining about not being able to rest, the cabin noise sounds like a scapegoat

I think the article is slightly wrong on this; first class on Emirates is on the second level of the A380. The cockpit and economy class are on the first level, and traditionally the A380 crew rest area is then below economy — inside the cargo area. They likely sacrificed economy seating in favor of more cargo space, which then places pilots on the same level as economy.

But quiet for sleeping is the norm. Let's not disrupt that. The A380 is the quietest plane in the sky and it makes for a fab passenger experience, whether asleep or awake. If people have trouble with other, non-airplane sounds, shouldn't those people wear earbuds with their own personal noise generators? This isn't a problem with the aircraft. It's a benefit!

I agree. While a quieter cabin may sound nice (pun intended), I found it noticeably harder to sleep on an A380 than on louder planes.

For me it's not even that you hear more of the other passengers (my experience is mostly in business and first class, which are less dense and rarely have babies). But the monotonous noise from the aircraft engines really helps me sleep.

Like a giant white noise generator.

I’ve flown business on several A380 operators, including many trips with Emirates. The cabin is very quiet compared to other types. Add some cheap foam earplugs, then your over-ear noise cancelling headphones, switch them on for a few more db of effect. Economy tends to be noisier due to the number of people there and increased ratio of kids. Loved bar area and the mini-suite concept for those operators that do it. I for one will miss this gentle giant. Probably as close as you’ll get to a modern day version of the flying boat luxury of the empire age.

“They claimed that the aircraft was so quiet that they could hear passengers (and crying children in particular) and flushing toilets throughout the flight.”

It seems odd to me that people don’t fly with earplugs or white noise generating sources (headphones, etc). Stranger still that a pilot would forego these conveniences.

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