Hi Gents

I have a KDR on Hearing Protection.

I recently sat the exam and the question was or very near to,

You are a charter pilot who works 7 hours a day. When is it "advised" to wear hearing protection.
a) seated in the cockpit only
b)during pre-flight and in all stages of flight
c)during high power settings such as runups and takeoff only
d) during pre flight and during takeoff and climb

I chose a) which was not correct. i have heard back from another candidate which believes b) was marked incorrect aswell. I have contacted the power that be and was told that the information was not taken from your advisories in the text on page 3.3 which support my answer.

Would you be able to give me any advice on when CASA "advises" to wear hearing protection.

cheers
Jake

I'll leave it for Bob to comment on what CASA may want to see in the answer .. and forget "advised" .. your employer is obligated to provide, and require you to wear, hearing protection due to the typical SPL values in and around aircraft.

Hearing protection is super important for pilots. In the bad old days (ie when I came through the system) there was little attention paid to the subject with the result that most of us older folk have varying levels of hearing loss associated with our flying histories. You don't want to repeat the foolishness of the past ..

The linked documents are worth a read, for your background information, regardless of what the exam syllabus might have to say.

(a) www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/swa/a...HSC2009-2004_PDF.pdf

(b) www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/a...earing_Loss_Work.pdf

(c) www.defence.gov.au/aircraftnoise/_Master...aircraft%20noise.pdf

(d) bib.irb.hr/datoteka/482262.EAA-EUROREGIO-173.pdf.pdf

(e) www.worksafe.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pd...earpro_selection.pdf

In general, if you are working in an environment with sound levels up around 80dB(A) or more you need to be using hearing protection. What this means in practical terms, if you are working at a reasonably busy GA or airline airport, you need to have hearing protection on the apron and in flight generally.

Caveat - you can over protect to the point where you can't hear, for example, warnings etc. It follows that your employer has to obtain quantitative data to select suitable protection.

Me, if I were starting out again .. I'd have Class 5 protection on from when I went onto the apron until I came in from the apron at the end of the flight duty period.

I have never seen any specific advice from CASA on this but every internet search I've tried comes up with 85 dB as the point beyond which hearing protection should be required. That is also the level I have suggested in the HPL book. As far as your question is concerned, if CASA have marked both (a) and (b) incorrect, I'm left with no correct answer. Surely (c) and (d) are both also incorrect. I would have no hesitation in selecting (b) as the answer since the noise level in typical GA aircraft is very likely to be at or above 85 dB and noise levels during pre-flight are likely to approach that level on occasions.

Like John, I grew up in the days when wearing a head set or other hearing protection was considered 'sissy'. I have paid the price for going along with that. Hard to believe I flew around for a few thousand hours with a hand-held mike and no headset.

Bob