Originally Posted by
ReadyRsv
Honestly UAL needs to spend the money and buy every pilot a nice ANR headset. Hearing loss is no joke. It's seriously difficult to put up with cockpit noise for 12 hours. Hell I lose my voice half my trips because I have to sit there and yell at the other guys all day just so he can hear me.
It's getting worse than inconvenient. It can seriously degrade CRM. Everyone should have one, but you can't require someone to pay $1000. The company should pony up with this. The new 737s (the ones with two cockpit jump seats) even have a non-spring loaded IC button so you don't need a rubber band. The comm issue can get compounded with having to talk above noise
and the NR.
PF no NR headset: "flaps one"
PM w NR headset: "what?" pulls ear cup off
PF no NR headset: "flaps one"
PM w NR headset: "ok, flaps one" puts ear cup back
PF no NR headset: "flaps five"
PM w NR headset: "huh?" pulls ear cup off
PF no NR headset: "flaps five"
PM w NR headset: "ok, flaps five" put ear cup back
PF no NR headset: "gear down, flaps fifteen, landing checklist"
PM w NR headset: "what was that?" pulls ear cup off
PF no NR headset: "gear down, flaps fifteen, landing checklist"
PM w NR headset: "roger" puts ear cup back
PF no NR headset: "flaps thirty”
PM w NR headset: "eh?" pulls ear cup off
PF no NR headset: "flaps thirty"
PM w NR headset: "ok" puts ear cup back
PM w NR headset: "1000”
PF no NR headset: "set missed approach altitude, cleared to land"
PM w NR headset: "set missed approach altitude?"
PF no NR headset: "yes"
At some point a fed is going to observe this process and give the company a choice: either no NR below 10,000 or buy everyone a NR headset. It's easy to predict which way the company will go.