For the love of flying

When someone asks me about my life I say, before aviation, or after aviation. Before aviation I was just a country boy from a small town in Pennsylvania and I would spend a lot of time on our old chicken house roof pretending to be flying the world war II bombers and fighters that flew in formation over head. I knew they were headed for war and some far off place I probably never heard of and would never see. Back then I had no mentors, no one to encourage me or to tell me I could do what I dreamed of doing as a little boy, “fly”! It would be 20-years later after becoming a successful mechanical contractor would my mentor surface and many more would follow, all encouraging me to go for it, be a pilot, “just do it” and so I did. I got my private pilot license and then my commercial license and after a couple of trips with some of the finest pilots I would ever meet as a co-pilot in some old but beautiful Beech D-18s I packed my bags and headed for flight training out west where I was, at the age of 35, the oldest kid in the class, by about 17-years. Old yes, but no one was more eager and willing to learn as I was and I ate and slept and worked at flight training and it paid off. The rest, as they say is history. Long hours as a CFI and some part time co-pilot jobs and waiting for the “flight hours” to grow until finally a real job as a co-pilot came along. It was here I would soon learn under the watchful eye of the “boss” just how much I still had to learn about flying. Fortunately for me this captain had more hours than I could imagine training world war II Army pilots to fly and he was used to taking pilots under his wing and that is what he did for me. Always teaching and above all always encouraging me never belittling or badgering. He was one of many great friends to come my way, and “I learned to fly”. I would later on work for a large charter company flying many hours in various aircraft. It was one of those jobs I should have stuck with, but as they say the grass is always greener. Sometime later after being the Chief pilot and Director of Aviation for a very large charter and flight training FBO I moved on as the captain of several small corporate aircraft. Then tragically my flying career came to an end when a swimming pool accident left me paralyzed from the neck down. It would be sometime before I would walk again and get back to a somewhat normal life but flying was out of the picture. They say when your bitten by the flying bug it will always be in your blood and in my case that is very true. I continued my aviation career in aviation sales for several Avionics distributors and manufacturers until my retirement in 1998. I would be remiss if I did not mention three very important family members who to this day have always supported me in my flying career and with out whose support it would not have been possible. My loving wife of 39-years Beth, and our two children, Laura and Ryan, to them I humbly say thank you very much. You will not find my name in any aviation books and I have not received any aviation awards, but there is one achievement I am very proud of, that is having realized my boy hood dream, “to fly”. If my little story here encourages a young person to go after his or her dream of flying I simply say “do it” you can break the bonds of earth and reach out and touch the face of God “Just for the love of flying”.

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Hints for buying headsets

We read a lot from so called "Aviation Experts", so let's clear the air here and now, I am not an expert. If you want their advice just Google them and have at it. What I want to do here is to give you some food for thought so "you" can choose a headset that is right for you, or at least as close as you can come to it.

This first series will deal with the person who has been finally bitten by the flying "bug" and is going to take flying lessons, and hopefully get the reward of a "student” pilot license and eventually the private pilot license (if the money doesn’t run out).

Oh boy here we go into the wild blue yonder.
Ok, so now you have come back down to mother earth after your first introductory flight. Hopefully it has been a success and you are determined to continue on with your flying lessons, much to your instructor’s glee. Now your instructor will not only provide you with flying lessons but (he or she) will also offer words of encouragement (we hope) with regard to the need of an aviation headset, along with other words (which we can not repeat here) as your flying lessons progress.

First of all let’s consider this fact, like it or not, will we stay the course? By that I mean “listen”, “learn” and develop the skills to become a licensed pilot? Will we give up 10-hours into the training rather than seek the advice of our instructor, “what should we do”? If you have a good instructor (he or she) will already sense your frustration and try to head off a decision to “QUIT” after spending a lot of money and help you through this phase we all went through learning to fly.
Now what does this have to do with “headsets”? A lot! Considering the fact you just spent a ton of money for that super razzmatazz electronic marvel sitting on either ear connected with a headband they call a headset that, because you decided to quit you will now try to sell, let get dusty in the closet or what ever, because you did not think you had what it takes to “LEARN” to fly.

Simply stated, consider the cost of a headset and how it will help you achieve your present goal. Is it just to get you through your flight training? No, while that may be part of it, how about providing good communication between you and your flight instructor as well as providing good hearing protection so you wont have to go around saying “wha, wha, what did you say? You may be surprised that you do not have to spend a lot of money to get an aviation headset that can help you accomplish this during your private pilot flight training.

How do we do that? By "that" I mean get a headset without spending a lot of money during flight training. Beg, borrow or s----? No I really don't mean steal a headset. Let’s beg a little, or maybe borrow a headset from our flight school. Many good flight schools do offer headsets for their students however they may not always be available or the headset looks like a bent landing gear. Borrow a friends; again the headset may not be always available for your use. That brings us to “S”. Like I said earlier, not “steal”, but search for a headset to “BUY”, without breaking the bank.

Before you BUY a headset, the following suggestion may seem extreme. A hearing (audiometric) test (not just someone whispering at a distance) is part of an ear examination that evaluates a person's ability to hear by measuring the ability of sound to reach the brain. Ask your physician about this test and follow his suggestions. Extreme, perhaps, but lets say you have a hearing loss in one ear, not real bad mind you but enough that perhaps a headset with dual volume controls would help. The results of this test could have a dramatic effect on the kind of headset you buy.

Places to search for a headset; ask your instructor about selecting a headset. Ask your fellow students and other pilots around the airport. Don’t be shy just walk right up and ask, you will soon learn that choosing the right headset is a very personable decision and what is right for someone else is not right for you. “You paid how much for that headset”? $$$
Keep your ears open (no pun intended) for any airport open houses coming to the area. Maybe you can visit a pilot shop and try some headsets on. Trying out a headset is the best way to evaluate the headset. Trust me the time you take doing this will pay off down the road when it is time to fork over the cash for that headset.

Things to look for in the headset:

• Headband:
  Fits good, feels good, headband pressure on top of head feels light, not bulky or built like a fur collar so as to cause bumping into the cabin top. Remember you can add a padded headband accessory to most headsets if necessary. The headband applies ample pressure against your ears. This pressure will vary depending on the manufacture and the style of the headset as well as the size of your head and your ears nature has supplied you with. Remember, the tighter the ear pads fit to your head and to you ears the better the passive noise attenuation you get, most of the time this can be a trade off between comfort and pressure to achieve this goal. Materials of headbands vary from hard coated metal to plastic to lightly padded leatherette surfaces. Vinyl covered surfaces may cause sweating. Some people are more prone to sweating than others.
  
• Ear Cups:
  These are the things your headband fits to. Most are made from molded plastic and they may vary in size, including, height depth and width depending on the manufacturer and what they are trying to accomplish with the headset. A sound-deadening foam material may be used to help the clarity of the speakers that must fit inside the ear cups along with other electronics in the case of ANR headsets. How these ear cups fit to the headband may be of particular concern to you. Metal bands with screws may be hard to adjust and add weight to the headset. Some are attached with wire prongs that slide in and out and may adjust more easily as well as weigh less. Do they allow for good adjustment of the ear pads? Do they allow, along with the headband, for folding of the headset for easier storage?
  
• Ear seals:
  This is the part that is going to keep unwanted passive noise from entering our ears and are one of the most important parts of our headset and perhaps one of the hardest parts to decide on. They come in various shapes and sizes with many different material and names, such as foam, gel, soft, non slip, contour, etc. This is what is said of one manufacturer’s headset ear seals; "unique soft-seal foam ear seals wrap easily around glasses and maintain a constant seal and have non-slip surface properties to remain cool and stable under all conditions". Do they, will they?
  The only way to really know is to try them out and wear them for a period of time. Can you change the ear seals, or add gel ear seals? Many pilots believe gel ear seals are worth the investment and can make a big difference in both comfort and seal even in an inexpensive headset. We could go on and on here, but like we said in the beginning take some time to “ask the experts” no not just the ones who write their views, but those you know who are wearing the headset, “fellow pilots”, but be careful here, as their views may not fit your head or ears as comfortably as theirs.
  
• The microphone boom:
  This is the part that has one end attached to an ear cup and the other to the microphone. This part may be metal with hinges and locking knobs for adjustment. Look at these carefully as they may not give you the adjustment you want. They also can come loose at the hinges. Many headsets have these and for most of the time they work very well.
  Another kind of boom is the “flex” boom. This has an adjustment for the up and down movement or back and forth depending on the attaching point and a locking knob on the ear cup. It allows for more precise adjustment of the microphone and has less moving parts. Some headsets incorporate a combination of both metal and flex. Consider the need to have a boom that rotates 180 degrees so it can be worn on either left side or right side of the head.
• Headphone speakers and microphones:
  Unless you are an electronics expert in the field of these two components and can or have evaluated with scientific equipment these components, we are at the mercy of the specifications of the manufacturer. Most of the time we can rely on these specifications, however, stereo is not always true stereo. Simply put, if your headset has a mono/stereo switch and the switch is placed in stereo position while you are listing to ATC you may find audio coming out of only one ear. That is because ATC doesn’t transmit in stereo.
  Now if you connect a music source to the headset and place the mono/stereo switch to stereo you will receive audio out of both ear speakers, however it may not be true stereo. Why, because you need two separate amplifiers individually tuned to provide the stereo input to the L/R speakers. Some aviation headsets do not provide true stereo in the stereo mode, but rather provide mono in each ear phone. Confused, unless you are a true stereo buff and are willing to spend a LOT of money for real stereo in your aviation headset, don’t worry, be happy, with what you have, it’s music isn’t it?
  With regard to microphones, most headsets provide a good electret microphone outfitted with a foam mic muff that fits over the microphone to reduce wind noise. You can up-grade this foam muff to a better one if you care to. Just make sure you use one.
  Another feature some headset microphones come with is an adjustment screw on the microphone called a “mic gain”. This adjustment is used to help match the microphone to the radio or audio panel and should not be touched except by a technician who knows how. Most of the time it is not necessary, but it may help resolve a problem that two different headsets can cause in the cockpit.
  

Let’s review here, as you are now either an expert or confused. Hopefully this will help.

• Comfort
• Weight
• Padding
• Adjustment
• Materials
• Carrying case
• Volume controls
• Stereo/Mono switch
• Speakers
• Microphone

ANR (Active noise reduction; Or what ever name manufacturers may call it).
There are many articals explaining ANR mostly written by the manufacturer. The following TUTORIALS we believe will help you better understand just what ANR is all about. Yes, it is written by one of the better manufactures of both passive and ANR headsets. We think you will learn a lot from the tutorials.

Click Here for ANR 101 Tutorial by Lightspeed

Beyerdynamic)))) another manufacturer of Active Noise Canceling headsets to consider.

Now that you are armed with an ample amount of information we would like to suggest you look at some headsets that you may want to consider purchasing.
We have sold many of these headsets in all three forms with great success and feel they meet the following standards,

Quality, Performance, Service and Support without breaking the bank, and with care should last a long time no matter how much you fly.

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