Passengers boarding Dash 8 aircraft are being treated to a remarkable demonstration and manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace is talking loudly about its quiet revolution.
The three Dash 8 aircraft at Farnborough '98 - the 200, 300 and the latest 400 - all now have the Q designation. Q is for quiet and is a noise and vibration suppression technology.
It is the fruit of an eight-year programme to tackle the problem of fluctuations in air pressure from spinning propellers. The system diminishes airframe vibration tusing actively tuned absorbers linked to cabin microphones and an on-board computer.
The computer activates the vibration absorbers attached to the fuselage frames, to out-of-phase counter vibrations to reduce the magnitude of the original vibrations.
The resulting sharp reduction in vibration and noise is strikingly demonstrated on some flights with an on/off button.
Source: Flight Daily News
