that was more crj specific as imnot familiar with the noise levels of the 747. im not sure how loud the 747 is (soon to find out) but i know in the DC-10 our headsets, or should i say ear piece, was always off in cruise. Theres some airplanes where its just not possible to take your headset off because the noise really does suck (727, C-17, C-130etc) but im posting this in reference to a crj question in the regionals board, so relax "eng"