Julesmusician From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (7 years 7 months 4 days 6 hours ago) and read 6286 times:
I was recently on a flight and the cabin temperature was soaring - I had a small thermometer on board and we were into about 26c on board which was quite uncomfortable - fortunately it was short flight. Question is who controls the temperature is it the guys at the front or the flight attendants?
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 1, posted (7 years 7 months 4 days 5 hours ago) and read 6268 times:
It is usually the first officer who twists the knob. It is usually the flight attendant working the forward cabin who says turn it up or turn it down.
Couple of problems with this:
While climbing to altitude, the f/a's put on their serving smocks and unlatch the five hundred pound serving carts and drag them up the aisle. They deal drinks and snacks off the arm furiously for half an hour. When that round of service is done they retire to the galley, next to the less-insulated cabin doors, take off their serving smocks and sit down - in their sweaty blouses in the cold and draft. (sorry - I was having a moment there!) Predictably, in a couple of minutes they are going to ring us and say it is cold back there.
You are toasty, they are cold. What a surprise!
If I want a cup of coffee on any given leg for the rest of this four-day trip I will turn the temperature up, even though I know those of you who do not have a PILOT CALL button are already warm.
The other thing is many senior flight attendants think they have more system knowledge than they do and try to tell the pilots specifically what to do with the controls. Instead of saying "It is hot!" or "It is cold!" they sometimes use all manner of phraseology that communicates nothing to me. For example "Turn up the packs." or "Turn up the air!" What do they mean?
If I "turn up" the packs I'd assume I increase the temperature. They might have wanted more airflow - something I cannot always directly control. My real favorite though is "It is hot in mid-cabin and cold at both ends." Now I have one controller for the entire cabin. What am I supposed to do with that?
A good f/o will get to know how to operate the heating/cooling so that no one ever needs to call. On some you can do it with temperature gauges and on some it is valve position indicators that give you the most useful information.
A-320 series was the easiest I ever used. BAe-146 was the worst. If you didn't very carefully bring the packs up to temperature on the first startup they would vaporize the carcinogenic synthetic turbine oil and pump the cabin full of it. The Brits (If you've ever driven a British car you know how the Brits do not value creature comforts!) said just to set the knobs at twelve o'clock and forget about them. If you did that the boarding passengers would mutiny because their eyes were smarting and they thought the plane was on fire. Spoiled Americans!
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
HiFi From Brazil, joined Apr 2005, 192 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (7 years 7 months 4 days 4 hours ago) and read 6247 times:
I don't think the E-jets qualify as "large aircraft", but they have an option on them: the F/O might control temperature or he/she might leave it to the cabin crew, by just turning the cockpit knob to maximum cold (there's a 'click'). The control is then available through the F/A panels. I don't know how the operators are using it, though...
Julesmusician From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 3, posted (7 years 7 months 4 days 2 hours ago) and read 6211 times:
This is interesting, I just have to know which door to knock on to get it sorted. I am of the opinion that certain crew put the temperature up on holiday flights leaving well known resorts on a night flight with fa ull load of passengers suffering from alcohol mismangement in order to send them to sleep.......but that is purely rumour....
Modesto2 From United States of America, joined Jul 2000, 2636 posts, RR: 6 Reply 4, posted (7 years 7 months 4 days 1 hour ago) and read 6187 times:
My only experience with aircraft environmental control systems in the Airbus A320 that has three temperature controls for the cockpit, forward cabin and aft cabin. Simply twist the knob clockwise to make it hotter and counterclockwise for colder. The temperature changes are felt pretty quickly.
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 6, posted (7 years 7 months 4 days ago) and read 6167 times:
Quoting Julesmusician (Reply 3): This is interesting, I just have to know which door to knock on to get it sorted. I am of the opinion that certain crew put the temperature up on holiday flights leaving well known resorts on a night flight with fa ull load of passengers suffering from alcohol mismangement in order to send them to sleep.......but that is purely rumour....
This might be a rumor too . . .
A flight school classmate of mine flew for a VIP flight detachment. There was a scheduling mixup and two parties were assigned the same airplane. One was the vice president of an Asian nation with his toadies and the other was a well-known (especially in Vietnam) entertainer and her roadies. Neither party wanted to share a plane with the other unworthies and both had to leave some people behind so all were cranky.
He ran a high cabin altitude and a high temperature and the problem was solved after a few minutes. Everyone fell asleep.
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15904 posts, RR: 66 Reply 7, posted (7 years 7 months 4 days ago) and read 6157 times:
Quoting SlamClick (Reply 1):
If I "turn up" the packs I'd assume I increase the temperature. They might have wanted more airflow - something I cannot always directly control. My real favorite though is "It is hot in mid-cabin and cold at both ends." Now I have one controller for the entire cabin. What am I supposed to do with that?
Welcome to the MD-80...
Quoting Julesmusician (Reply 3): This is interesting, I just have to know which door to knock on to get it sorted. I am of the opinion that certain crew put the temperature up on holiday flights leaving well known resorts on a night flight with fa ull load of passengers suffering from alcohol mismangement in order to send them to sleep.......but that is purely rumour...
LOL! Well on the whole I prefer too cold to too hot. It's easy to put on an extra layer. I've also noticed that AA 777 crews set the control to "slightly cooler than comfortable" when taking off and expecting bumps. I asked an F/A about it and he says we might be cold but it beats the projectile vomit flying around the cabin
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo
PhilSquares From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 9, posted (7 years 7 months 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 6091 times:
On the 744, there is a master control in the cockpit. To be honest, no one ever touches it at all. And it's generally set at the 22-24C temp.
Down on the main deck there is another control the flight attendants have to then refine the temp to their desire. Normally on the 747, all models, on a full flight 22-24C works out just about right, and on lightly loaded flights, 26C seems to do just fine.
HAWK21M From India, joined Jan 2001, 31228 posts, RR: 58 Reply 10, posted (7 years 7 months 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 6053 times:
Quoting PhilSquares (Reply 9): Down on the main deck there is another control the flight attendants have to then refine the temp to their desire. Normally on the 747, all models, on a full flight 22-24C works out just about right, and on lightly loaded flights, 26C seems to do just fine.
Is the cooler temperature set on full flights to cater to the Body heat of Pax.
regds
MEL
SlamClick From United States of America, joined Nov 2003, 10062 posts, RR: 71 Reply 11, posted (7 years 7 months 3 days 9 hours ago) and read 6039 times:
I've also heard of a DC-8 operated by a non-sked that had a regular house thermostat screwed to a bulkhead in the forward galley. It wasn't connected to anything but the flight attendants seemed satisfied whenever they adjusted it. The pilots called it the "placebo stat."
Happiness is not seeing another trite Ste. Maarten photo all week long.
AAR90 From United States of America, joined Jan 2000, 3410 posts, RR: 50 Reply 12, posted (7 years 7 months 3 days 7 hours ago) and read 6010 times:
Every airliner I've flown, with one exception, the FE or FO normally control cabin temps. The exception? DC-10 with Lower Lobe Galley. On that particular model plane, the FE's temp control knob for the LLG included a position that allowed "remote" control from the LLG itself.
*NO CARRIER* -- A Naval Aviator's worst nightmare!
Turnit56N From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 13, posted (7 years 7 months 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 6003 times:
The option to have the FA control the cabin temp on the ERJs is nice. It really cuts down on one of our primary cruise flight tasks! Our company always runs it in the FA-controlling position.
When we got the first ERJs, though, the FAs weren't all really used to the relative "sophistication" of the jets. There were a few who thought that the temperature control had only two positions: hot or cold. So for a while crews would still get calls from the back: "It's either way too hot or freezing - what's wrong with this airplane?" After it was tactfully suggested a few times that they try placing the switch somewhere between hot and cold the problem disappeared.
I honestly wonder why more aircraft don't have that option. It makes sense - the FAs know what the weather's like back there a lot better than we do.
Starlionblue From Hong Kong, joined Feb 2004, 15904 posts, RR: 66 Reply 14, posted (7 years 7 months 2 days 23 hours ago) and read 5956 times:
Quoting SlamClick (Reply 11): I've also heard of a DC-8 operated by a non-sked that had a regular house thermostat screwed to a bulkhead in the forward galley. It wasn't connected to anything but the flight attendants seemed satisfied whenever they adjusted it. The pilots called it the "placebo stat."
IMHO this is a good idea for the home as well
"There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots." - from Citadel by John Ringo
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