Sky-High Headache

By PAULA SZUCHMAN
Staff Reporter of THE 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 new record -- Dallas to Oakland, Calif.). And 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. Even low-fare carriers like JetBlue are getting into this, with plans to introduce them next year.

But as fliers are beginning to notice, regional jets are far more cramped, too small to bring much luggage on board and so tight passengers get full-body contact with strangers. And they're a lot noisier. According to a Weekend Journal 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 of their 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 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 our 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.

Ironically, 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 like 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 for towns around airports but making life in the cabin quieter, too. 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 more attractive than ever. Now minijets are increasingly crowding bigger aircraft off mainline routes like Atlanta-Philadelphia or 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. Even the flight attendants are smaller -- on Continental's regional jets, there's a 5-foot-9 height limit.

Growing Closer

Jack Mark, a 52-year-old money manager from Utah, is accustomed to sitting in business class, usually with a glass of scotch. Now he finds himself flying on long flights to Phoenix and San Francisco on coach-only planes with cramped seating. To break the ice with his neighbor, he comes armed with jokes. "Let's face it, we're touching each other the whole flight," he says.

Then there's the noise. For our test, we measured cabin sound levels at cruising altitude, relying on the same kind of decibel meter that aircraft makers use and checking our methodology with acoustic experts. The test ran the gamut of regional jets, from older models that are being phased out to the latest 70-seaters that big airlines are buying. Flying from Tucson, Ariz., to Denver, for instance, our meter hit 81 decibels and jumped to 90 when we hit 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 we tried were in the low-to-mid 70s, which experts say to the human ear is about half as loud as our highest minijet readings. One tip: Where you sit makes a difference, with our meter readings eight decibels higher on the back of a Continental 50-seater flight to New Orleans. Window seats were also consistently louder than the aisles.

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. (One carrier, Air Wisconsin, didn't dispute our results, and said that "naturally the noisiest part is right behind the wing.") 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 the mother-ship airlines, also say passengers aren't complaining.)

And as the airlines are quick to point out, small planes can mean more service -- no small thing in a travel slump. They also serve 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% of its fleet.

Still, even plane manufacturers say airlines could do a few things to make life a little easier on minijets, such as removing rows. 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. Indeed, Embraer markets a business jet that's essentially the same as its popular regional jets for the airlines but with additional soundproofing.

More Coming

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 more from Embraer (its 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), while even discount carrier JetBlue is jumping in with 100 regional jets on order. Overall, the Federal Aviation Administration estimates regional jets will make up 35% of domestic fleets by 2014.

Tricia Babb says that's OK with her. Sure, she has noticed the regional jets are noisier, and it can be tough to chat or hear announcements. But on a trip to visit her sister in Buffalo, N.Y., last month, she found a silver lining when seated next to a loud teenager. "I couldn't hear a thing," she says.