DL bans noise cancelling headphones under 10,000 feet
 

I was on a DL flight Wednesday morning and the FA announced that DL will no longer let you use your noise cancelling headphones under 10,000 feet because of possible interference with the electronic equipment in the cockpit. She said that this was a recent change in the rules. Has anyone else encountered this?

This is a new FAA (not Delta) regulation which went into effect on 11/15/04. FA on two different flights last week said that it was due to a person's inability to follow directions and hear announcements in case of an emergency.

Great.

Of course, if you are plugged into the Delta sound system, you get the annoucements anyway and if you don't have them plugged in at all, then you can hear the normal annoucements too.

Sad, but true
 

Yes, it's true. I had a FA instruct me "you have to turn those off" as we descended last week. I didn't have to do it a few weeks ago. :td: :(
Oh well. Though I agree with you indufan, I think I can actually hear the announcements better with them on as background noise is filtered out. Most a/c pa systems barely meet audiblity requirements, much less intelligibility.

I've always had them off on every airline for at least the last 6 years or so (when the 10,000 foot rule was first introduced).

I always turn my QC2's off when I turn my laptop off. But this is true. I heard this announced last week and then saw a DL FA ask a man to turn them off on a JFK-CVG flight. When he said "Why?, she responded with the fact it might interfere. It's too bad. But frankly, I find it interesting it took this long to make it a matter of policy. Although one could argue it has always been a part of policy since they have always said "All electronic items".

me too! But I never heard any annoucements regarding them. Hmmm, well atleast I have had some peace and quiet turning off my hearing aides below 10000 feet. Huh? Able to lift a 30lb person through the exit row? Yeah no problem Missy!

Soon you'll be turning off your headphones and everyone will still be using their cellphones. It's only a matter of time before they let passengers use them in flight.

The explanation that the FA gave us was the interference of electronic equipment, not the inability to hear announcements. Which one is correct?

Most standard cellphones will read "No Service" at altitude.

They are working on that.

Yes they are! See these links:


http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-501431.html?legacy=zdnn


http://www.newstarget.com/002024.html

Though, I believe this will be unfortunate. It's hard enough to get some people to be quiet for a couple of hours. :rolleyes:

Shure e2c or e3c. small, sound isolating, non-powered headphones. Work just as good as noise cancelling w/o using any power. Smaller than those DJ style Bose which make you look like your doing a radio show.

Not if they can access a node on the aircraft itself which in turn relays the signal. Another solution is to equip the aircraft with handsets in the seats which can take GSM style SIMs. Personally, I think the mini-SIM is too much hassle for people to remove and replace and hardly anybody uses the full size card anymore, so flying cell nodes is the way to go. Personally I'd like to see the technology only approved where the handsets have been verified in terms of their power reduction capabilities. What we do about quitening down the loudmouths is yet another problem. Why do some people think they need to shout into their phone?

Most every inflight emergency I can envision would hardly be subtle.
I'm guessing that, if an inflight emergency developed, the plane was pitching around and people were hollering and screaming, I would automatically remove my headphones just to see what was up. And I don't think most people would remain zoned out and blissfully relaxed with their headphones on in the event of an actual emergency.
So this requirement seems a little nonsensical unless I'm missing something.