I wonder if there is any aircraft that is quiet enough that allows talking/listening via speakers?
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$\begingroup$ I guess the obvious candidates would be lighter-than-air craft, particularly helium-filled vessels (hot-air balloons are noisy when the burners are operating!). $\endgroup$– Toby SpeightCommented Aug 3 at 10:27
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1$\begingroup$ All our club's sailplanes have speakers. We don't even have GA plugs installed. $\endgroup$– rgeorgeCommented Aug 4 at 3:35
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$\begingroup$ @rgeorge what about the mic, do you still have to use a hand/head mic? $\endgroup$– GabeCommented Aug 5 at 20:13
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$\begingroup$ there's a tiny mic on a gooseneck attached to the plane. $\endgroup$– rgeorgeCommented Aug 5 at 22:22
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1$\begingroup$ This is in a Blanik L23. Not unlike this one: cumulus-soaring.com/store/dittel-dynamic-gooseneck-microphone , or maybe a little longer. It's screwed to the right longeron next to the pilot's head and wired right into the radio $\endgroup$– rgeorgeCommented Aug 6 at 0:45
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3 Answers
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Yes, the Boeing 737 is too loud for this but the Airbus A320 and Boeing 777 are two aircraft that I know with this system.
A320 has a speaker located inside the cockpit. Below is an image of the A320 controls for the loudspeaker.
Pilots can either use this or their headsets.
I think the things circled in the above image are the speakers in the A320 but I'm not sure.
There was one notable incident of Northwest Airlines Flight 188 where the pilots removed their headsets, took out their laptops and were using these speakers. They didn't listen to ATC and overflew their destination by about 200nm
He explains a bit about the speakers in this video.
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2$\begingroup$ does that speaker also has a microphone or they still have to use a head mic? $\endgroup$– GabeCommented Aug 2 at 18:36
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$\begingroup$ @Gabe, as shown in the video at 8:38, there is a hand mic available in the A320 that they can hold like a singing mic and speak $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 3 at 4:58
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$\begingroup$ I guess there are no aircraft without hand/head mic then? $\endgroup$– GabeCommented Aug 3 at 23:04
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The short answer is yes: gliders (sail planes.)
It is common in gliders to mount a hand-held radio onto the instrument panel or use a built-in radio with a speaker and boom mic.
In most powered aircraft, however, pilots generally prefer headsets, except perhaps in vintage or ultra-light aircraft that don't carry a radio. Here's why:
Using headsets in an aircraft cockpit achieves five main things:
- Reduce background noise from engine and airflow, making time in the cockpit more comfortable and reducing the risk of long-term hearing damage.
- Allow the crew to converse via an intercom system.
- Make it easier to listen to incoming radio signals by cutting out distracting noise.
- Make outgoing radio signals clearer by allowing the microphone to be situated close to the pilot's mouth at all times.
- Allowing both hands to be used for flying, instead of needing one hand to hold a microphone.
The cockpit of a modern jet aircraft is certainly quiet enough that speakers could be used, and sometimes are, but items 3 to 5 above still apply. Headsets cut out background chatter and make it less likely that crew will miss transmissions from ATC.
The older Cessna designs used to have a loud speaker on the cockpit ceiling and a hand-held microphone. They weren't any quieter in the cockpit than they are today, though. I guess people didn't worry so much about hearing-loss back then!
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5$\begingroup$ I learned to fly in C150 many years ago and the instructor clued me in to crank up the speaker volume and use foam ear plugs. So nice now to have sound cancelling or just sound deadening headphones and not have to fumble around reaching for the mike. $\endgroup$– AeroAndyCommented Aug 2 at 14:16
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3$\begingroup$ @AeroAndy I wore foam earplugs for years but they are fairly useless in airplanes protection wise because the bulk of the noise is in the 70-120Hz range, where there is very little attenuation. However foam earplugs are a good supplement to ANR headsets that don't attenuate higher frequencies very well, if you really want to protect your hearing. Absent an ANR headset, I now use 3M plug-ins with several grams of lead tape wrapped around the shaft and covered with heat shrink. The low freq attenuation is nearly identical to my Zulu 3.Turn the ANR off while wearing them, I can't tell the diff. $\endgroup$– John KCommented Aug 2 at 17:04
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1$\begingroup$ @AeroAndy, I remember those! aircraftpartsandsalvage.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/… $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 4 at 22:53
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$\begingroup$ Is there an airplane that doesn't use hand/head mic? $\endgroup$– GabeCommented Aug 5 at 20:14
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$\begingroup$ @gabe as mentioned in my answer there where production aeroplanes that didn't use headsets. Older biplanes didn't have them at all. In the early days of flying in England, they used a speaking tube called a "Gosport Tube" to communicate between student and instructor. These days, however, headsets can be retrofitted in almost any aeroplane so the choice ultimately down to the pilot (crew) and whether or not radio is being used. There isn't a specific type of aircraft in which there is no option to upgrade to a headset, so pilots will generally choose to do so, or just go non-radio. $\endgroup$ Commented Aug 6 at 9:22
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Nowadays the headsets are the "gold standard" in aviation, but in the olden days most aircraft, at least general aviation ones, actually came standard with the handheld microphone / speaker configuration.
Headsets have become so lightweight and comfortable that there really is no reason not to use them.
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5$\begingroup$ The big issue was cost, more than comfort. A headset is a big step up from the speaker and hand mic. DC, Telex , and couple others had a near lock on the market with their patents. When I started flying in 1988, the cheapest DC headset was over \$600, equivalent to about 15 hours of solo. That year many of their patents expired and by the spring of 1989, there were a half dozen competitors selling headsets for about \$250. That's when I got my first one. $\endgroup$– GerryCommented Aug 2 at 20:32