Quote:
Originally Posted by Maxspeed
I was wondering how the "on ear" QC3 worked vs the "over ear" QC2. Not so good I guess.
Can't answer this with 100% certainty, but on a 747 flight recently, one crew member was using the UFM w/ the QC2 and earbud, the other the QC3 with the hand mic (legal in a 747-200). The guy with the QC2 had the volume set 1/4 of the way up on Com. 1, the guy with the QC3 had the volume set 5/8 of the way up (more than 1/2, less than 3/4).
Now, of course I don't know if one guy liked his volume louder than another, if their ability to hear was the same, or if it was impacted at all by the way a 74 classic crew communicates - no hot mic, so you usually have to take one ear off so you can talk to the other pilot and engineer. Incidentally, the pilot with the QC2 did
not take an ear off, but seemed to be able to hear the other crew members speaking without trouble. The guy with the QC3 took an ear 1/2 way off.
To me, it seemed the QC2 was quiet enough to suppress most of the flightdeck noise, allowing him to hear a slightly raised voice from the other pilot or the engineer.
I once tried both the QC2 and the Bose X in the PHL airport's Bose store, back to back for comparison, and the Bose X was a touch quieter (5-10%, if I had to put a # to it). Not sure if that's better passive suppression or amped up active suppression - or maybe a bit of both.
I don't think using the QC3 is an option for any regional or corporate guys (this is the regionals forum with a corporate guy posting, right?). The requirement for a boom mic is part of the regs for aircraft certified after a certain date (I'm guessing early 80's). So, unless you fly round dials (no glass at all), you likely can't use the QC3 unless you rigged it up somehow with a TSO'd headset with a boom mic and just wore the QC3 on top of it. So, if you're a 72, 73 (not the NG), 74, L-10, Diesel 8, 9, or 10 driver, than you're fine with the QC3, b/c you're not required to use a boom mic, and can use the hand mic.