737 open intercom...

[PanicButton]

I'm wondering if anybody knows of what you have to do to have an open intercom between the pilots in a Boeing 737. The reason for me asking is it would be a lot better to have the open intercom when using an ANR headset and I'm not keen on always pressing the intercom button. It would also help to have a rough idea of the cost.

[Notso Fantastic]

I believe the spectacle Mic/Intercom switch is spring loaded from Mic to Off and not spring loaded on the intercom position. So that switch may be left in the intercom position to activate the microphone, the headset always being live if selected on the station box.
The 737, being sloww, has a nice quiet flight deck, so intercom on continually is not that irritating. Faster jets with more noise tend to preclude use of continual intercom 'on'.

[Lucky Angel]

Unfortuantely it is a compnay option to have an intercom switch that stays pressed. On our new 737-800s we have a switchn on the yoke which when pressed down it satys in that position and you have an open intercom between pilots.

[NSEU]

Note that there is cockpit speaker muting on the 737 when the handmic or boom mic is used. If headsets are worn at all times, however, then this would not be a problem (unless you had only one ear of the headset covering your ear and it happened to be faulty). Not sure how much the speaker mutes on a 737, but on some aircraft it can be considerable (basically no output).

Rgds.
NSEU

[LEM]

Some switches stay in the intercom position, others don't.
Don't know if it is a company option, or if it depends on the switch being worn out.
On more modern airplanes the switch in on the audio control panel, but 73 is a retread dinosaur, so....

[seat 0A]

The 737, being sloww, has a nice quiet flight deck

Well, mr Notso, I guess you haven`t flown much in a 737, as of lately

It`s above the legal limit in the E.C. countries. Not much different from the 744.

[Notso Fantastic]

8 years 737 up to '97, since then continuously on the 747-400. I found the 737 (except the -200) vastly quieter than the 747 due to the lower speed- the 737-400 very relaxed and quiet. The 747 has a pronounced roar which I have always been told is due to the sharp fuselage curves around the roof of the Flight Deck. I expect in addition, after 18000 hours of sitting on top of jet engines, we all lose different parts of our hearing (permanently), so perhaps I am happily sitting there in blithe ignorance unable to hear a particular tight frequency band which is where all the roar is? I know having seen my audiogram trace that there is an astonishing degredation of hearing over the years.

[Checkboard]

You can loop a rubber band around the intercom/RT switch on the audio control panel, and a fixture at the back of the centre consol (if that is where your aidio control panel is located.

[SimJock]

Where would the aviation industry be without rubber bands ?

Just remember to take it with you when you leave the cockpit so the next pilot doesn't snag it as "intercom permanently live"

[Human Factor]

It was a standard fix where I come from! Just remember to speak to me in my right ear....

[Bus429]

Rubber bands used in the manner described above amount to modifications! Installation has to be approved!
Which country in EASA is responsible for stretched 737s?