No Public Address System - Protocol for Flying?
 

Was on UA 979 last night (GRU-IAH). The PA system was down the entire flight. For the safety demo, the flight crew used megaphones. After that, it was radio silence all night until the final descent, when the crew came through row by row and gave the usual instructions about seat belts, upright, luggage stowed, etc. I must say it was a rather peaceful night! But it reminded me of an incident last year on an ExpressJet IAH-RSW when we returned to the gate and swapped aircraft due to a malfunctioning PA. The explanation the FA gave was that it was "against safety regulations" (or something like that) to fly without PA. So what's the real story here re no PA, to the extent there's any official protocol?

I would be more than happy if the PA system was down on all my flights. It seems every time I get comfortable and start my entertainment or am conversing, the %#$@* PA comes on.

My favorite flight ever in this regard was probably on a Air China 707 (open storage instead of bins!) in ~1991 Guangzhou to Beijing. The announcement was "Sit down NOW! We're taking off"

This appears to be a question of whether or not the FAA mandates a working PA as part of certain equipment in order to make the aircraft airworthy.

I'll move this to the TravelBuzz forum so that other FTers can share their knowledge and travel experiences with the PA system. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, United and TravelBuzz.

I'd guess that the rules vary between carriers, aircraft types and of course, the mood of the Captain. It's also possible that the ExpressJet wasn't equipped with a megaphone as an alternate method of communication with passengers.

I've learned that cabin crew often claim safety or FAA rules that may not be exactly true, but again, the Captain makes the final call. If he says it's a safety issue, then it is....and of course, they can then claim that it's a FAA rule, because his decision becomes the rule. It's basically circular logic that always points back to you as being in the wrong, if you object.

There are been a number of night flights I had wished the PA system was broken..... you were fortunate to experience one of them!

DEN

That reminds me of a recruiting trip that I went on to visit a school in the mid-90's. It was only my third or fourth flight ever and I was nervous as all heck as we boarded a very small private turbo prop (with 20 years of hindsight I now realize the plane probably belonged to a booster who was violating some NCAA recruiting rule by letting the school use it). There was not a flight attendant just a pilot who turned around and said, "we're going." The kid next to me had never been on a plane and as we accelerated he yelled, "whoa! this thing has more pick-up than my Jeep!"

Not an expert but each airline, for each piece of equipment, has a Minimum Equipment List which specifies what must work and what must be done in contingency if a piece of equipment does not work.

I suspecting a working PA system is not required for flight.

It's an FAA reg in the standpoint that the operating rules for each equipment type run by each airline must be approved by the FAA, but there isn't a rule book that's says PA must work to fly, TTBOMK.