Learning to fly, or thinking of learning? Post your questions, comments and experiences here

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By Paul_Sengupta
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1862827
Miscellaneous wrote:@Paul_Sengupta I'm guessing from lack of promotion you managed to sell your numerous spare headsets? :wink:


That was years ago! I think I sold something like three Bose Xs to forumites. I used the money to buy a second hand non-Bluetooth A20. I then found a good deal on a second hand Bluetooth A20 so I sold the non-Bluetooth one to another formumite and friend! I lent him another Bose X some years ago and haven't asked for it back yet, so I potentially have another one. Since that meant I only had one top-of-the-range ANR set to hand because of this, I bought another forumite's Sennheiser ANR set to use as a spare/passenger set.

The forum is a good place for the movement of headsets if you're lucky/patient! :D

As for repairs, yes, there's not much to go wrong with a passive headset, and usual issues are just breaks in the wire, usually at the plugs, though sometimes they are caught in aeroplane doors! Repairs shouldn't be that expensive. If one of the speaker units goes out, that's the ideal time to upgrade them to ANR with one of the Headsets Inc ANR kits. In the Bulldog I've got two DC headsets which I built up using a combination of DC hardware and Headsets Inc ANR kits, plus a military microphone.
Last edited by Paul_Sengupta on Wed Aug 04, 2021 9:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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By Miscellaneous
#1862829
Paul_Sengupta wrote:
Miscellaneous wrote:@Paul_Sengupta I'm guessing from lack of promotion you managed to sell your numerous spare headsets? :wink:


That was years ago!

How time flies. :D
Paul_Sengupta wrote: I lent him another Bose X some years ago and haven't asked for it back yet, so I potentially have another one.

Let's hope he reads this. :wink:
Paul_Sengupta wrote:Since that meant I only had one top-of-the-range ANR set to hand because of this, I bought another forumite's Sennheiser ANR set to use as a spare/passenger set.

Not sure I kept up, but glad to hear you achieved the desired result. :thumright:
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By editmonkey
#1864552
Hi!

I picked up a pair of Senheiser HME100s and they've been fab. Very simple, passive attenuation, the clamping is great and the ear cups are excellent at cutting out external noise. Might get a better set if I take my flying further but for the PPL they do the job for about £100.
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By tr7v8
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1864564
I use a PNR set from Pooleys pretty blue as well. They work well in a 172 cockpit. If I go further then I'll maybe get a better set but they'll do this 30+ hour PuT fine at the moment.
Annoying thing is as an apprentice at RAE I used to service headsets. I could have built myself a set!
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By tcc1000
#1865530
editmonkey wrote:Hi!

I picked up a pair of Senheiser HME100s and they've been fab. Very simple, passive attenuation, the clamping is great and the ear cups are excellent at cutting out external noise. Might get a better set if I take my flying further but for the PPL they do the job for about £100.


I started with a Sennheiser set too (found some HME110s for £50 on gumtree!). Audio quality is much better than student ones (Pooley's). I've now splashed out on Zulu 3s when they were on special offer and my passenger uses the Sennheiser set.

One piece of advice I'll give is that if you are spending several hundred pounds on a (new) set and are going to keep them, then Bluetooth is worth getting (standard on Zulu 3s, extra on Boses A20s, model-dependent on Seht) as you then get audible warnings about airspace and traffic from SkyDemon / SkyEcho (or alternatives) which saves you having another thing to look at.
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865547
I've no idea if I've done a good thing or not, but I bought this one from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N1GQYXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

It's worked so far. I can hear the FI and tower, they can hear me.

My only criticism was that on my last lesson, it was sunny, I was being pushed hard and I was sweating like a lady of the night in a place of worship. The ear pads got a bit 'slippery' and at one point, I turned my head a bit quick, the cable got caught I think and I end up wearing one ear cup on my face and one on the back of my head.

I've since bought these but not flown with them yet. They seem to fit well and are comfy in the armchair at home although I've not turned the heating up to replicate sweat-gate. :lol:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07CP6NGLW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The reviews were generally positive overall and it seemed like a reasonable choice. Several reviewers commented that it did them fine while they were learning and makes a good spare/passenger headset if you upgrade to a DC or Bose or whatever at a later date. Might have been able to get a second hand DC for the same money but I'm happy with it so far.
By riverrock
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865556
You will likely find it isn't as robust as a DC (there are reports of parts failing, and no customer service or parts available) but likely similar attenuation.
I hope it does you many miles of happy flying!
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By Milty
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865566
:thumleft: If it gets me through my PPL and works when an unsuspecting victim joins me in the air, I'll be happy.
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By PeteSpencer
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1865569
DCs are bomb-proof and will last for ever: Get a pre-loved one and get it ANR'd by Richard Holder of this parish:

anrman.co.uk

Best of both worlds: My 2 DC13.4s are getting on for 25 years old and were ANRd mid life.
Onlyever had to replace mic socks.

In fact he occasionally has pre-loved headsets for sale: No harm in contacting him
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