Squawk1200

Today’s rambling will begin with a story.  See, one of the things I’ve found quite enjoyable about having my private is not just the ability to go fly, but the ability to invite friends along who I know will enjoy the experience as much or maybe even more than I do.  As such, a couple weekends ago I casually mentioned to a coworker and fellow airplane nut that I was thinking of making a $100 hamburger run over the weekend, and would he be interested in joining me?  I received a rather hearty affirmative, and plans were made.  The following weekend, we launched from PDK in the sweltering cockpit of the DA-20, bound for The Flying Machine at LZU.

The flight was plenty of fun for both of us, but I also got something new out of the flight- video footage.  My friend brought along a P&S still camera and used it to record lots of video.  I had no idea how much until he sent me the raw footage- about 35 minutes worth.  Initially, I only wanted the footage to compile a montage/flight video of sorts, which I did. (See the finished product here)

Making that video was a fun experience for me, but there was also a somewhat unexpected side effect- I got to watch and criticize my flying from a whole new perspective.  For example, I had no idea how horribly left of centerline I was getting on takeoff until I saw the view from the right seat.  I knew I wandered a bit from time to time, but thought I was doing OK… seeing the video made me consider it in a different light.  Same thing goes for landing- the one at LZU was kind of rough, and looks even more so when the camera takes a good jolt on touchdown.  It’s also very evident that I haven’t broken my habit of ceasing to fly the plane once it’s on the ground… I can’t even discern any time between the mains and nose gear touching down in either landing.  Not good.

After a bit of thought, this makes good sense to me.  When I’m flying, particularly in heavier-workload tasks like takeoff and landing, my attention is devoted more towards doing things and less towards evaluating myself.  Sure, I’ve gone back in my mind, reviewed a bad landing, and considered what I might have done wrong, but adding actual footage of my flying really seems to take that post-mortem process to the next level.  I can go back and see everything I did over and over.

What it comes down to is that I’m not satisfied being a mediocre pilot.  I’m aware that with the little time I have, it’s not necessarily surprising that I don’t grease the thing in every time, but I’m not going to excuse myself with that.  I want to be better, and anything that helps me with that goal is good for me.  As such, I’ve spent a few evenings researching cameras, and I think I’m going to shortly pick up a ContourHD cam to mount in the cockpit, with which I’ll record all my flights for later analysis.  At the same time, I also want to get a digital recorder and figure out how to patch it into the comm system… that way I can have some context for the footage.

In short, I’ve become a big believer in video as a training tool.  If you’re looking for a way to improve your training, I recommend giving it a try.

Boy, did this thing ever dry up over the past few months. There’s a lot less material to write about when you’re not flying a couple times a week… I have been getting airborne from time to time, just not a whole lot. What prompted me to come back here was an experience in the headset department.

To rewind a bit, I don’t think I ever really detailed my headset purchase earlier this year. We’ll start with the beginning- probably like most students, I started out using whatever loaner the school had around. That was satisfactory for a few flights, but it didn’t take long for me to start desiring something better. I didn’t need a depth of experience to know that after about 30 minutes, the loaner headset started making my jaw hurt. Really uncomfortable.

I started out intending to buy a tried and true David Clark set. I’d had occasion to wear DCs a few times previously, and at least they never made my head hurt, so they seemed like a decent default selection. But after bringing the subject up with Scott and another instructor at Advanced, I got strong recommendations for LightSpeed’s ANR sets. (in fact, Scott told me he thought Lightspeed had better ANR than his pricey Bose X)  I was still on a budget, though, so I figured I’d end up with a lower-end set.  Long story short, I ended up picking up a slightly used 15XLc off eBay for a song.  I don’t know how they might stack up with other ANR sets, but I do know that they’re heaven compared to the loaners.  I was pleased with my purchase.

Fast-forward a few months.  Towards the end of my training, Scott and I were getting ready for a flight… as I put my headset on, there was a pop from the left side, and that cradle split apart.  The large center screw that took most of the load appeared to have abdicated earlier, and the two remaining smaller screws were clearly not meant to take the twisting load where the cradles joined the headband.  I implemented a temporary fix using some zip-ties. (didn’t have any duct tape available)  I kept meaning to give Lightspeed a call to see about replacement parts, but procrastinated.  A lot.  As in I finally got around to calling them last week, after several months of zip-tied headset action.

This, however, is where my decision to go with Lightspeed paid off.  I spent maybe ten minutes total on the phone, and at the end of those ten minutes, I had a set of new cradles headed to my door.  Price?  Zip.  Zilch.  Remember that I bought this set used.  I’m not the original owner, it’s definitely out of warranty.  They didn’t care, didn’t even ask how long I’d had the set, and I didn’t ask for free parts.  When I asked how much it was, the reply was, “Oh, don’t worry about it, just tell someone about us.”

Well, you can count on that.

So now I have a newly whole headset, I know to keep an eye on those big cradle screws, and I feel pretty certain who I’ll be getting my next headset from.  Heck, with their trade-up program, I can send in my 15XLcs and get a set of Zulus for $550… but I think I’m more likely to pay full price for Zulus and keep the 15s for passenger use.  After my experience with the loaners, I’m hesitant to condemn my passengers to them, but I don’t have much choice right now.