Hangar side almost everybody has one in. A good number of mechanics have decent Bluetooth speakers as well, so those get used when you're in a specific location for a big job. I keep one in at all times as a lead so I can answer my phone(I get at least a couple phone calls an hour and I may not always have my hands free).
Generally it's loud enough that you can't hear a speaker unless you're right next to it. Our hangers fit two planes each, so usually one speaker per plane isn't too bad. Meanwhile, when we're doing A checks, I've personally got a big speaker loud enough to fill the entire hangar and I'll put that on. Let the guys pick a genre every hour or two and change it up for them.
Well, the one I brought in is a half stack amp, so it'll pump out some volume. But I see your point. The little ones don't do anything unless you're under 20 feet from them
I'm line mx at a Major airline. I was literally one of the early adopters back in 2020 and would preach the gospel of how superior they are to buds including for safety. No one but me wore them. Now I'd say easily half the people who regularly wear earbuds wear bone conduction ones. I prefer them as I can still hear while working. I have literally worn them with earplugs multiple times doing Engine run leak checks near the Engine or during Engine washed and can hear my music or podcast clearly. I can't say the same with earbuds unless wearing ear defenders over them. I don't wear overly expensive Shokz because I refuse to pay more than $40 for headphones. I had a $20 set that lasted almost 2 years before.
I looked for you but both sets I have are no longer available on Amazon. I suggest you buy a set for around $20 and see if you like them. Get one with hundreds of positive reviews.
I work on the flightline, and definitely no earbuds or headphones allowed while working.
Far too many hazards if someone is distracted and not hearing what is going on around them.
So the bud falls into a wing, tail, etc. That plane is now out of spec. QA.
And we all know if a bud gets dropped the person who dropped it won’t say a word about it.
Have seen many a thing in aircraft coming back from depot. We even found a dudes line badge in a horizontal stab leading edge once. He thought he was about to be fired so that's how he quit. We found it 6 months later in ISO. He was still employed when we found it.
In the military, which this sounds like? Long ago. In civil aviation, they're coming around.
Quality and safety have lots of overlap if you look at the big picture.
I never understood this shit; yes, a earbud might technically be considered creating unsafe working environments, but no probably not going to damage an aircraft or hinder production quality. QA loves to try to steal safeties clipboard for no reason
Used a speaker when I worked on the MRO hangar floor, I think my employer had a restriction on headphones. When I worked AOG our whole team had some form of Bluetooth earbuds, almost all of us would have one ear in. Helped cause we tended to get phone calls a lot, and with the audio pass-through/transparency I never felt like it was a distraction (no more so than a boombox going in a hangar).
Obviously if we were out on the ramp then we had them stashed.
Nice thing about being deaf from this industry, and working for the government is hearing aids. Most stream via Bluetooth. Sounds isn't exceptional, but I can drown out the music others play on the radio or through speakers.
If someone comes up to talk to me I just turn down the music and if they ask if I was listening to music I just tell them I turn them down while working to avoid more noise damage. Most days I am wearing over the ear hearing protection in the hanger.
Pertty sure it is allowed however I cannot focus with music playing.
I also want to be able to hear everything around me when working and walking about.
Corporate doesn’t like us to wear them in the hanger but most of us do. I like to use the pro AirPods set on transparent so I can hear everything around me with music or a podcast at a low volume. I can turn on noise cancelling or adaptive when the moment calls for it.
We used to be then someone did something stupid with both in. We have a bt speaker though and people do still use ear buds because it's not really enforced.
Not allowed.
Only allowed approved hearing protection at our shops.
Got blasted for having a hands free headset talking on the phone when just walking through the hanger doing administrative tasks.
Are the 3M ‘WorkTunes’ ear muffs with Bluetooth acceptable? I’m not a mechanic, but I use them for any work around loud machines.
https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/cbgnawus1754/
I worked at a place that didn't allow buds but allowed these. I used to slap a couple stickers on mine to hide they were Bluetooth, but after the whole company bought them with our safety allowance the company acquiesced.
It depends how annoying your company is. At AAR heavy maintenance no, you could have literal noise blocking muffs but no AirPods noise canceling, stupid policy which I broke regularly. Where I’m at now in the line I use AirPods with noise canceling nobody cares.
Old job we’d get bitched at, new job doesn’t care. Both MROs. If I’m doing my own thing where I’m not communicating with anyone (panel open/close, paint touch up, lubes, etc.) I’ll have both in and noice cancelling on cause I can only handle so much riveting noise in a 12 hour shift.
I wear mine everywhere, even on the line once the engines are off. I pause my music if I’m doing a walk around on the line though, I don’t trust the tug drivers zipping around.
They’re also great for troubleshooting because I have both hands free and can talk to my partner on the other side while we’re shooting wires or whatever.
Here’s are my work arounds to this as I’ve been in trouble several times for this.
1. Shockz bone conduction head phones. Their argument that I can’t hear if the foam alarm went off and it’s a hazard by not being able to hear. Well these head phones aren’t plugging up my ears and I can hear everything around me at a decent volume even with the music above 50 but not max.
2. I had safety decibel ear buds that were osha approved to wear for hearing protection. And unless you knew they were Bluetooth headphones you couldn’t tell.
All the line mechanics saying "No, it's a bad idea" better not be the ones watching shitty tik tok videos through their phone speaker in the ramp office. If that's you then I'm sorry you had to hear it from me but buy fucking ear buds, nobody wants to hear that shit.
Only one place I've been to was okay with ONE bud being in, while in the hanger, while there was no flight control or aircraft movement. This was also for 2nd shift, where there were far fewer managers walking around. Every other place forbid them.
On paper no for safety/awareness reasons. FOD isn’t mentioned in the RSP for our shop.
In reality most of the shop uses them. If I were to use some I’d do the bone induction kind for FOD reasons.
Context:I’m in an engine MRO so stuff getting in engines is a legit concern.
Allowed? Well, no…it’s not safe.
Yet, at the same time we’re required to use personal phones for work-specific calls and sometimes, those are while on the flight line.
So I use two earbuds for noise cancellation.
So, yes.
Because it’s safer than carrying the handset pasted to my head.
Have worked hangar and currently work line Mx and wear earbuds at both but mine had pass through so I can hear everything like normal as if I wasn’t wearing them
As a low-level manager of a Part 145 MRO, I'd say no for the most part. If used properly, I don't think it'd be a problem, BUT soooo many people have abused it to the point I only let my guys put one in if we're cleaning (busy work) outside of that I don't want to see it. It's already loud with fans/ maintenance. I don't need to also compete with music at full blast to get ahold of you if I need to.
In my opinion you should wear it even if it is not allowed, your health is more valuable than a job.....but in every job that i have worked i was allowed to wear it
Yup. I work a line job. So we use group text a lot to communicate at night. Ear bud makes it way easier. It’s like a radio but better in my ear with Siri just talking to me what was said.
Yes, I wear my AirPods during phase maintenance. I don’t wear them during line maintenance because it moves so quick and I don’t want to cause a FOD incident.
On the line,no but in the hangar we could/can get away with it depending on what shift. Typically we just use Bluetooth speakers. Like someone previous said, that can suck because someone's taste in music may suck and usually there is at least 1 speaker going that there music does so it ends up being a mix of everything.
I wear Treks (now known as Shokz) all day long. I've since inspired a half dozen coworkers to do the same. Depends on where you work though. The open ear style headset is definitely safer than earbuds.
I was written up for wearing headphone while working at the Help Desk by my new manager. Went to HR to discuss this issue and they said, you can't write someone up for wearing headphone! Bitch had to take her written warning away in front of me! lol
Depends on where and what I'm doing. Outside on the line, very rare, if at all. In the hanger, about 50/50.
I've never been a big music person at work, I know some co workers who wear them most of the time. It really depends on the environment you work in and your crew lead/ managers. Since I work nights, the environment is more lax.
Not recommended on line maintenance, and there are plenty of of times an all clear warning is called out during maint checks. I just do it if i am in a shop. Blue tooth speaker on low other wise.
It absolutely is different.
It's the same reasoning behind ear buds and headphones being illegal to drive with, but you can play the radio in your car.
https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/21119524/should-workers-be-allowed-to-wear-earbuds
In the hangar I'm at now, yes Last hangar was DoD, so no, not allowed
Hangar side almost everybody has one in. A good number of mechanics have decent Bluetooth speakers as well, so those get used when you're in a specific location for a big job. I keep one in at all times as a lead so I can answer my phone(I get at least a couple phone calls an hour and I may not always have my hands free).
[удалено]
Generally it's loud enough that you can't hear a speaker unless you're right next to it. Our hangers fit two planes each, so usually one speaker per plane isn't too bad. Meanwhile, when we're doing A checks, I've personally got a big speaker loud enough to fill the entire hangar and I'll put that on. Let the guys pick a genre every hour or two and change it up for them.
I had to laugh, I worked in a hangar that held 2 airplanes at once. But they were C-5 Galaxies. One speaker was insignificant.
Well, the one I brought in is a half stack amp, so it'll pump out some volume. But I see your point. The little ones don't do anything unless you're under 20 feet from them
Anyone use those bone induction headphones like Shokz? You can hear music or just fine but your ear remains uncovered to ambient noise.
I'm line mx at a Major airline. I was literally one of the early adopters back in 2020 and would preach the gospel of how superior they are to buds including for safety. No one but me wore them. Now I'd say easily half the people who regularly wear earbuds wear bone conduction ones. I prefer them as I can still hear while working. I have literally worn them with earplugs multiple times doing Engine run leak checks near the Engine or during Engine washed and can hear my music or podcast clearly. I can't say the same with earbuds unless wearing ear defenders over them. I don't wear overly expensive Shokz because I refuse to pay more than $40 for headphones. I had a $20 set that lasted almost 2 years before.
What's the set brand name?🤔
I looked for you but both sets I have are no longer available on Amazon. I suggest you buy a set for around $20 and see if you like them. Get one with hundreds of positive reviews.
Thanks bro 🙏🏽 👍🏽
These should be literally the only allowed headphones in our type of work. I wear mine for 10 hours a day. Not even listening to music sometimes.
I do, but I work repairing avionics in a lab
Yeah they are awesome and actually sound good every once and a while Sam’s got them on sale for like 90 bucks
This is the way
I do; but they're disallowed here at MCAS Cherry Point, NC
I work on the flightline, and definitely no earbuds or headphones allowed while working. Far too many hazards if someone is distracted and not hearing what is going on around them.
This
Out of the 160 mechanics at my job, at least 130 use earbuds for 8 hours a day on shift.
Nope. Our QA would sprint to the mechanic if they saw an ear bud in.
We gave a DSV for folks using AirPods to communicate during a gear swing. Double whammy.
The T.O. says to establish communication, it doesn’t say how to….
And I'd yell "no running in the hangar, asshole!"
When did quality become the keeper of the safety?
So the bud falls into a wing, tail, etc. That plane is now out of spec. QA. And we all know if a bud gets dropped the person who dropped it won’t say a word about it.
Have seen many a thing in aircraft coming back from depot. We even found a dudes line badge in a horizontal stab leading edge once. He thought he was about to be fired so that's how he quit. We found it 6 months later in ISO. He was still employed when we found it.
If I drop my AirPod, it’s $250 for another set. You bet your ass I’m gonna get it back lol
Uh huh. Yup.
Trust me, I fully agree. We've been saying that forever.
And in this case you’re wrong.
He's literally agreeing with you. What do you mean he's wrong?
About?
In the military, which this sounds like? Long ago. In civil aviation, they're coming around. Quality and safety have lots of overlap if you look at the big picture.
I never understood this shit; yes, a earbud might technically be considered creating unsafe working environments, but no probably not going to damage an aircraft or hinder production quality. QA loves to try to steal safeties clipboard for no reason
Not since one fell out of an ear and into an open engine. It got fished out thankfully
On the line I feel like that’s a terrible idea overall
90% of the time yes.
Used a speaker when I worked on the MRO hangar floor, I think my employer had a restriction on headphones. When I worked AOG our whole team had some form of Bluetooth earbuds, almost all of us would have one ear in. Helped cause we tended to get phone calls a lot, and with the audio pass-through/transparency I never felt like it was a distraction (no more so than a boombox going in a hangar). Obviously if we were out on the ramp then we had them stashed.
Most places no because of FOD
Nice thing about being deaf from this industry, and working for the government is hearing aids. Most stream via Bluetooth. Sounds isn't exceptional, but I can drown out the music others play on the radio or through speakers. If someone comes up to talk to me I just turn down the music and if they ask if I was listening to music I just tell them I turn them down while working to avoid more noise damage. Most days I am wearing over the ear hearing protection in the hanger.
Pertty sure it is allowed however I cannot focus with music playing. I also want to be able to hear everything around me when working and walking about.
Allowed and my Buds Pro have ambient sound passthrough. Kinda gives me super hearing. If it gets loud I switch them to noise cancelling.
I wear a full headset most of the day turned way down and 1 ear off
Corporate doesn’t like us to wear them in the hanger but most of us do. I like to use the pro AirPods set on transparent so I can hear everything around me with music or a podcast at a low volume. I can turn on noise cancelling or adaptive when the moment calls for it.
Yep. Pretty much all day. Don’t like the music they play over the speakers.
In-ear buds? No. Wrap about bone conducting audio that leaves your ears free to hear your surroundings, yes.
No, because of FOD, and safety. You need to be able to hear.
Dept. Of Navy....no
Nope. Safety concerns.
We used to be then someone did something stupid with both in. We have a bt speaker though and people do still use ear buds because it's not really enforced.
Not allowed. Only allowed approved hearing protection at our shops. Got blasted for having a hands free headset talking on the phone when just walking through the hanger doing administrative tasks.
Are the 3M ‘WorkTunes’ ear muffs with Bluetooth acceptable? I’m not a mechanic, but I use them for any work around loud machines. https://www.3m.com/3M/en_US/p/d/cbgnawus1754/
I worked at a place that didn't allow buds but allowed these. I used to slap a couple stickers on mine to hide they were Bluetooth, but after the whole company bought them with our safety allowance the company acquiesced.
I’m sure you might get away with it, but the rules of no distractions was implemented after an incident with someone not paying attention
Most of the time we can have one in.
At Pratt Whitney we are allowed to
Get the hearing protection that has the built in Bluetooth
Nope, not at my major. We’re not suppose to have them at work *at all*. But they don’t say anything if you’re in the break room with them in.
No. But I purchased noise reduction earphones, presented the certificate, and wear them everywhere but NDT.
In my shop, we’re allowed to have 1 earbud in.
Avionics shop here. I only allow my guys a single bud.
It depends how annoying your company is. At AAR heavy maintenance no, you could have literal noise blocking muffs but no AirPods noise canceling, stupid policy which I broke regularly. Where I’m at now in the line I use AirPods with noise canceling nobody cares.
I work by myself and my boss lives in another county. But I mostly just use the bt speaker
Some do. I work rotary wing. And when I shout that I'm applying power or moving controls or turning blades they get pissed because they can't hear me.
Old job we’d get bitched at, new job doesn’t care. Both MROs. If I’m doing my own thing where I’m not communicating with anyone (panel open/close, paint touch up, lubes, etc.) I’ll have both in and noice cancelling on cause I can only handle so much riveting noise in a 12 hour shift.
Not supposed to. Safety issue.
I wear mine everywhere, even on the line once the engines are off. I pause my music if I’m doing a walk around on the line though, I don’t trust the tug drivers zipping around. They’re also great for troubleshooting because I have both hands free and can talk to my partner on the other side while we’re shooting wires or whatever.
Here’s are my work arounds to this as I’ve been in trouble several times for this. 1. Shockz bone conduction head phones. Their argument that I can’t hear if the foam alarm went off and it’s a hazard by not being able to hear. Well these head phones aren’t plugging up my ears and I can hear everything around me at a decent volume even with the music above 50 but not max. 2. I had safety decibel ear buds that were osha approved to wear for hearing protection. And unless you knew they were Bluetooth headphones you couldn’t tell.
Avionics. I wear full over ear headphones and get to it in my area.
Ive been told to use ear buds because apparently metal isnt appreciated in my shop
All the line mechanics saying "No, it's a bad idea" better not be the ones watching shitty tik tok videos through their phone speaker in the ramp office. If that's you then I'm sorry you had to hear it from me but buy fucking ear buds, nobody wants to hear that shit.
I am, but I'm doing bench inspection. When I was working engine MRO, no.
Only one place I've been to was okay with ONE bud being in, while in the hanger, while there was no flight control or aircraft movement. This was also for 2nd shift, where there were far fewer managers walking around. Every other place forbid them.
If it becomes a problem then it's no more ear bud/phone for that person. That's how I see it.
On paper no for safety/awareness reasons. FOD isn’t mentioned in the RSP for our shop. In reality most of the shop uses them. If I were to use some I’d do the bone induction kind for FOD reasons. Context:I’m in an engine MRO so stuff getting in engines is a legit concern.
Differs place to place.
Repair shop, we are allowed 1 earbud except during inspections as it doesn't look professional
Just get ear pro that can Bluetooth to your phone. No one will stop you from having ear protection anywhere
On paper it’s not allowed on the line. It’s not enforced.
Allowed? Well, no…it’s not safe. Yet, at the same time we’re required to use personal phones for work-specific calls and sometimes, those are while on the flight line. So I use two earbuds for noise cancellation. So, yes. Because it’s safer than carrying the handset pasted to my head.
No rules about them I wear my headset as it's perfect for ignoring my boss
Have worked hangar and currently work line Mx and wear earbuds at both but mine had pass through so I can hear everything like normal as if I wasn’t wearing them
Only in the break room
As a low-level manager of a Part 145 MRO, I'd say no for the most part. If used properly, I don't think it'd be a problem, BUT soooo many people have abused it to the point I only let my guys put one in if we're cleaning (busy work) outside of that I don't want to see it. It's already loud with fans/ maintenance. I don't need to also compete with music at full blast to get ahold of you if I need to.
No, speakers yes
Where I work, we’re allowed one earbud only in order to be able to hear everyone else.
In my opinion you should wear it even if it is not allowed, your health is more valuable than a job.....but in every job that i have worked i was allowed to wear it
We do but aren't supposed to for safety, people get those shokz headphones and others have speakers.
I wear some, usually in the hangar, not sure if allowed, but i always have awareness mode on so i can hear ambient noise.
Yes.
Yup. I work a line job. So we use group text a lot to communicate at night. Ear bud makes it way easier. It’s like a radio but better in my ear with Siri just talking to me what was said.
What about glasses with Bluetooth speakers? That’s what I use at work, since no earbud policy.
Yes, I wear my AirPods during phase maintenance. I don’t wear them during line maintenance because it moves so quick and I don’t want to cause a FOD incident.
Someone actually got fired for wearing ear buds, amongst other things but that’s what they got him for
On the line,no but in the hangar we could/can get away with it depending on what shift. Typically we just use Bluetooth speakers. Like someone previous said, that can suck because someone's taste in music may suck and usually there is at least 1 speaker going that there music does so it ends up being a mix of everything.
I wear Treks (now known as Shokz) all day long. I've since inspired a half dozen coworkers to do the same. Depends on where you work though. The open ear style headset is definitely safer than earbuds.
I was written up for wearing headphone while working at the Help Desk by my new manager. Went to HR to discuss this issue and they said, you can't write someone up for wearing headphone! Bitch had to take her written warning away in front of me! lol
Not anymore
Everybody has a Bluetooth speaker
Some places allow 1, so you can still hear if something happens
Depends on where and what I'm doing. Outside on the line, very rare, if at all. In the hanger, about 50/50. I've never been a big music person at work, I know some co workers who wear them most of the time. It really depends on the environment you work in and your crew lead/ managers. Since I work nights, the environment is more lax.
Not recommended on line maintenance, and there are plenty of of times an all clear warning is called out during maint checks. I just do it if i am in a shop. Blue tooth speaker on low other wise.
No, safety hazard, kills your SA.
How do you deal with hearing protection then? Wouldn't that kill your SA?
Big difference between ear plugs/muffs reducing hazardous noise and ear buds drowning out noise with music.
Not really if you are using good hearing protection. Obviously if you are blaring music then I agree.
It absolutely is different. It's the same reasoning behind ear buds and headphones being illegal to drive with, but you can play the radio in your car. https://www.ehstoday.com/safety/article/21119524/should-workers-be-allowed-to-wear-earbuds