Noisy airplane flight

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Discussion

robinessex

Original Poster:

11,046 posts

180 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
Last weekend, had my first flight on a plane with props. An ATR 72-600 flown by FlyBe, from Southend London airport. Impressed by it's performance, but it was dam noisy. Had seat 5F, right alongside the prop. An app on the mobile phone recorded 90db average noise level, with peak at 112db. The fight was just over 1hr. Personally. I found this to loud. At that sound level, in the engineering industry I worked in, ear defenders would be obligatory. Anyone have thoughts on this?

GAjon

3,721 posts

212 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
You should have shut the window.

robinessex

Original Poster:

11,046 posts

180 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
GAjon said:
You should have shut the window.
Now you tell me !!!

cuprabob

14,416 posts

213 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
You should have asked the pilot to switch off the engine. I'm sure it could have flown on just the one, assuming of course the person in 5A doesn't mind tbe noise.

GAjon

3,721 posts

212 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
In the late eighties I used to fly regular from Schipol to Bremen on the city hopper Fokker friendships, noisy rattly things they were.

djc206

12,244 posts

124 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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The performance? As in on time performance?

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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Love Southend Airport. It's like the airport time forgot. Tucked away in a residential corner of London with a great rail link.

Stick Legs

4,824 posts

164 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
Propellor aircraft are noisy, but that sounds excessive.

I would suggest a politely worded email to the customer relations department of said airline would result in a discount voucher for a future flight and may even prompt them to investigate if there was an issue causing the noise to be higher.
It is possible that the aircraft may have had some maintenance done and some insulation was not fitted correctly.
Unlikely, but not impossible.

It may also be down to conditions, it is very noticeable on some aircraft that they are noisier at different power settings or even if there is a slight mismatch on the engines power / pitch setting.

SonicShadow

2,452 posts

153 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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Phone apps are not exactly accurate.

Blaster72

10,772 posts

196 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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How accurate is this mobile phone app?

Riley Blue

20,915 posts

225 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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I always ask for an inside seat...

rallycross

12,744 posts

236 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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They are loud I flew Heathrow to Aberdeen a couple of weeks
Ago and was a bit surprised to find my Flybe plane had propellers- it was
Small noisy and quite a slow trip - but you get what you pay for and it was a cheap flight.

Much better than the drive back which took 10 hours due to idiots causing delays on the motorways...

Krikkit

26,500 posts

180 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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SonicShadow said:
Phone apps are not exactly accurate.
Actually, on a decent phone, they're extremely close. They have to have accurate, often dual microphones to give the required voice quality, so are very well calibrated etc from stock.

RosscoPCole

3,300 posts

173 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
The Trislanders that used to fly between the Channel Islands and the mainland were loud. The pilot regularly said to the passengers before take off that the aircraft was not designed for speed or comfort and handed round a big box of earplugs.

djc206

12,244 posts

124 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
quotequote all
RosscoPCole said:
The Trislanders that used to fly between the Channel Islands and the mainland were loud. The pilot regularly said to the passengers before take off that the aircraft was not designed for speed or comfort and handed round a big box of earplugs.
Are the Dorniers much better?

Oilchange

8,421 posts

259 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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Worked on Hercs for years, the worst area for noise is between the props, forward is better, aft not so good until you get to the ramp.
Always go as far forward as you can.

rxe

6,700 posts

102 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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I used to fly from City to Luxembourg on Luxair's little prop planes. We learned to avoid the seats in line with the prop (as you've discovered, very loud), you either went for the front or the very back.

Small planes are much more fun in turbulence, proper little rollercoaster. Great fun.

Noise cancelling headphones help a lot if you're going to make a habit of it.

VGTICE

1,003 posts

86 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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Yipper said:
Love Southend Airport. It's like the airport time forgot. Tucked away in a residential corner of London with a great rail link.
Same with East Midlands Airport, such a convenient airport to get to from central London. I often hesitate whether to fly from City Airport or EMA.

steve-5snwi

8,592 posts

92 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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yous should try sitting further back then, its even louder. I always used noise cancelling headphones on those little Dash's

herewego

8,814 posts

212 months

Wednesday 26th July 2017
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djc206 said:
The performance? As in on time performance?
As in it got off the ground before reaching the end of the runway.