Apparently Airbus are hearing complaints that their new A380 is too quiet
-- at least for Emirates pilots trying to sleep in the crew rest area.
Flight International has a neat little story that the airline's A380 pilots have complained that they are having trouble sleeping because there is too much cabin noise and not enough noise from the plane's engines to cover those sounds -- like babies crying.
The pilots say that the lack of engine noise in the A380's cabin compared with other long-haul airliners means they are constantly disturbed by sounds created by passengers, such as crying babies, flushing vacuum toilets and call bells. Passengers also mistake the rest area for a lavatory, and pull the door handle.
The Dubai-based carrier has asked Airbus for a solution that does not involve substantially adding weight, which rules out insulating the walls of the rest area, situated at the rear of the all-economy main deck, says Emirates senior vice-president, fleet, Capt Ed Davidson.
"We are expecting to hear back from them by the middle of the month," says Davidson, who admits that the airframer has "over delivered" on its noise promises on the airline's Engine Alliance GP7200-powered A380s. One option could be installing lightweight generators to create ambient noise.
We're getting a lot of complaints. It's not something we expected," says Davidson. "On our other aircraft, the engines drown out the cabin noise. [On the A380] the pilots sleep with earplugs but the cabin noise goes straight through them."