Originally Posted By: grunt
 Originally Posted By: RickF

I've been meaning to take my SPL meter to work with me and see what kind of levels I get from inside the cockpit of my work plane, I'm betting they're up around 90-100db or more. I keep forgetting the meter.

What do you fly? Most of the pilots here use noise canceling headphones. I tried someone’s pair and didn’t think that they did much of anything.

When I took the reading of 114 dB I was just aft of the landing gear with a line of sight to all for engines. Actually at or just above ground idle these things aren’t really that loud compared to something like an F4 or AV8B. However, when we do engine trims and take them up to TRT the ground shakes and it’s deafening a couple hundred meters away. I keep forgetting to take my meter in for a power run hopefully I’ll remember next time.


That reminds me of the last Air Show I went to. We had access to the Commander's Tent on the flight line. Great view. But being the bad parent I am, I failed to notice heed the fact everyone else had ear protection. (Wimps! I love the sound of a jet!) Well, Thunder Birds turned on the f-16s facing us, but not far enough away. I was not worried, they were just warming up, not juicing the throttle.
Holly Crap. By the time the 7th jet was fired up, the whistle sound of the air racing into the nose was like a spike driving from my ears through my skull down my spine and out my toes. I had to cover the kids ears, and I think I lost some brain cells that day.
Great show though - the F22 Raptor is worth the price of admission, makes the Thunder Birds and Blue Angles look like they are flying bi-wings. Fun to watch, but simply not in the same league. It is, in fact, a UFO.

Last edited by Zimm; 03/24/09 03:36 PM.
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