Question here from a CC...
Pool, you bring up something which has been bothering me for some time now, concerning the CRC and the ability of the resting crew to access the cockpit in an emergency.
It seems the other airlines with A380 have all kept the manufacturer default location for the CRC however EK chose to move theirs to a less optimal, noisy, and inconvenient location. The reports have been going on for ages and the company keep saying they are going to do something about it (soundproofing comes to mind) however I personally haven't noticed any major improvement. (Toilets flushing, babies crying etc- on one recent flight we even had children banging on the walls and I got up three times to shut them up as the operating CC were busy doing the service)
I wondered why they chose this option and randomly browsing the other day came across this rather interesting Flightglobal article on the differences in A380 config between operators, an excerpt of which I quote here:
Only Emirates' "long-range" configured 489-seat A380s have a crew rest zone, which is at the rear of the main deck in the centre of aft economy cabin. The space freed at the front of the main deck by the elimination of the flightcrew rest zone has been used for three lavatories. Clark says the decision to put the cabin-crew rest on the main deck was basically to preserve cargo capacity. "There is not much volume on the bottom deck," he says, adding that cargo can account for up to 20% of the airline's overall income.
(Bolding mine)
So, the cargo is more important than the quality rest of the operating crew on a ULR flight? Is that what they're saying or am I missing something here???
I recall several Qantas crew saying that the putcome of QF72 near Learmonth would have been very very different had the CRC for the FD crew been at the aft of the aircraft and not where it is. Thoughts??
Full article:
Double luxury - how the airlines are configuring their A380s