Here you go Fins:
Posted on Sun, Dec. 21, 2003
Some travelers say regional jets are a headache
BY PAULA SZUCHMAN
Wall Street Journal
Like a lot of veteran travelers, Jim Forster likes to use his time on the plane for everything from preparing for meetings to catching up on paperwork. So a recent three-hour flight to Daytona Beach, Fla., seemed like the perfect chance to talk shop with a colleague.
Good plan -- wrong plane.
He'd been booked on a 50-seat regional jet for the trip, and when he tried to get down to business, the engine noise was just too annoying. By the end of the flight, the 47-year-old executive had accomplished little more than reading a magazine. It "wasn't conducive to talking to anybody," he says.
It's also the future of aviation.
Once the province of short hops, these small jets now account for almost a fourth of the U.S. airline fleet, with 1,200 flights daily at Chicago's O'Hare alone. Instead of one-hour trips, the minijets are moving into three- and even four-hour hauls.
The majority of airlines serving Wichita use regional jets on their routes. Of 52 daily departures from Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, 42 are on regional jets. That will increase by two in January when AirTran switches to regional jets for all of its Wichita flights.
The minijet movement just keeps growing. With more than $16 billion invested in these aircraft in the past three years, the industry plans to keep stepping up their use, with hundreds more on order.
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But, as fliers are beginning to notice, regional jets are far more cramped, too small to bring much luggage on board and so tight that passengers get full-body contact with strangers. And they're a lot noisier.
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According to a noise test of two dozen flights, the din of a minijet can go as high as 87 decibels, more on the tarmac. That's louder than a factory floor or a passing freight train -- and almost double the noise level of most big jets. For flight attendants, it's so loud that some unions are pressing for noise-control regulations. "It's fatiguing," says American Eagle flight attendant Bill Hennessey. "We've all learned to read lips."
Airlines say that the comfort level isn't all that different and that people haven't complained to them about the noise. They also say the planes have been a boon that's kept service in many cities up in the post-9/11 era. But while the noise levels the decibel meters found aren't considered harmful to hearing, travelers say it can be taxing to hold conversations so loudly or to wear earplugs for so many hours. And medically speaking, acoustic experts say, the decibel levels can contribute to everything from sleep deprivation to stomach problems. "It's a stressor," says Randy Tubbs, a psychoacoustician at the federal National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.
All this comes as something of a step backward after years of ever-bigger -- and ever-quieter -- jets. Back in the '60s, narrow-bodied planes such as the DC-9 and the 727 used loud, military-style engines mounted on the side of the plane's fuselage. But newer "high bypass" engines cut noise drastically, not only helping lower the racket near airports but also making life in the cabin quieter. It didn't hurt that most wide-bodies moved engines out onto the wing and farther from passengers' ears.
Then regional jets started making a splash in the early '90s. Originally these 40- to 80-seat planes were meant to replace turboprops on commuter routes, with their jet speed -- 500 miles an hour -- slicing flight times by a quarter or more. It didn't take the airlines long to start trying them on longer flights -- an experiment that kicked into full gear after 9/11, when the industry's worst travel slump made downsized jets look even more attractive. Now minijets are increasingly crowding bigger aircraft off mainline routes such as Atlanta-Philadelphia and Newark-Minneapolis.
But smaller planes also mean a whole new experience for many. Most minijets, for example, have luggage bins too small for many carry-ons, including the ubiquitous "roll-aboard" suitcase. There's only one lavatory on most, and galley service is limited: drinks, but usually no food. Some people, of course, are also scared of the planes, even though their safety record is excellent. And then there are the low ceilings, often no taller than 6 feet 1 inch and a full foot shorter than the narrow-body Airbus A320's. Even the flight attendants are smaller -- on Continental's regional jets, there's a 5-foot-9 height limit.
Then there's the noise. Flying from Tucson to Denver, for instance, cabin sound levels hit 81 decibels at cruising altitude and jumped to 90 on the tarmac. The highest cabin level: 87 on a United Express flight to Washington's Dulles Airport.
How loud is that? According to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, it's like standing beside a busy freeway, while other experts compared it with a passing train from 100 feet away. By comparison, most of the big jets were in the low-to-mid 70s, which experts say to the human ear is about half as loud as the highest minijet readings. One tip: Where you sit makes a difference, with meter readings eight decibels higher from the back of a Continental 50-seater flight to New Orleans. Window seats were also consistently louder than aisle spots.
For their part, most airlines say they don't test noise levels on their planes and aren't required to, but they insist comfort isn't being compromised.
Size-wise, travelers on minijets do get seats comparable to coach sections of most bigger jets, and Delta, for one, says customer-satisfaction surveys for its regional flights are similar to those on the giants in its fleet. Delta also points out that regional jets are, after all, quieter than many of the turboprops that used to serve many small markets. Commuter airlines, which often operate minijets on behalf of mother-ship airlines, also say passengers aren't complaining.
And as airlines are quick to point out, small planes can mean more service -- no small thing in a travel slump. They also facilitate many nonstop flights. "We're starting direct service in communities we never could have served before," says a spokeswoman at Continental, where 222 regional jets now account for nearly 40 percent of its fleet.
Even so, even plane manufacturers say airlines could do a few things -- such as removing rows -- to make life a little easier on minijets. It's possible to quiet down the cabins, but it would require carrying around extra insulation -- which adds weight and fuel costs. Fancy corporate jets usually include more of the soundproofing, bringing levels down into the 50-decibel range -- well below the noise we found on regional jets.
Either way, travelers can expect to see much more of small planes in the next few years. US Airways has an order for 60 of Canadair's 50-seat model -- and 85 of Embraer's latest jet, which is taller and wider. Delta is bringing in another two dozen in the next year -- but no new big jets until 2005. Overall, the Federal Aviation Administration estimates regional jets will make up 35 percent of domestic fleets by 2014.
Bye Bye--General Lee
