Extra260 Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Got the the airport this morning just before 9, with the weather looking somewhat iffy. I thought it was more solo circuits today but turned out I was heading to the training area with Damian for Practice Forced Landings. Spent 10 minutes briefing (since I hadn't done the required reading last night). Pre-flighted the aircraft, turned on my Lightspeed Zulu headset and there was just dead silence! As soon as the ANR was on I couldn't hear anything, not even myself. Damian had Zulu's as well, so we worked out between us that it wasn't operator error Changed the batteries but that didn't help. We decided to just leave the ANR off and he would handle the radio, as the Zulus are useless without the ANR. Anyway, lined up waiting on the runway and the tower informs us company aircraft was inbound after being unable to reach the training area due to low cloud. We decided to ask for a lower clearance and try anyway, that was given, so off we went on Rwy 30, up over Mt Ainslee and all we could see ahead was rain (drizzle) and low cloud at around 3500. We asked for an amended clearance to return for circuits, did 4 circuits, and for the first time ever on a glide approach I had to use power to make the runway.. selected full flap about 5 seconds too early I found it difficult when all I could hear was my headset rattling. Not a very happy morning, and the Zulu's have to go back to Melbourne for repair, very annoying for a $1200 headset (I think they cost much more than that now!) that has less than 20hrs usage I think I might look for a cheap passive pair to keep in the car as a backup. Booked again for Friday morning, hopefully this weather will have cleared off by then. Vincent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skypilot Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 does not hurt to have an extra headset for that very reason but also for when you take passengers (further down the track). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BennyHill Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 You would be surprised how a simple thing such as headset problems (or as previously posted; a loose seat) can put you off your concentration for the whole day. Something you have to be aware of as distractions like that can be dangerous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bosch Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 Bugger. Not a happy flight then Vincent! I could have warned you about doing forced landings as Terry was telling Damian that that's what he wanted you to do when we finished up on Sunday arvo. I didn't even think of it. I kind of assumed you knew, sorry. A shame about the Zulu's too. We've both had headset issues now! I got to use my new ones on Sunday and they worked ok. Did you try you set in another aircraft and did you have TAV? I had a small issue with TAV initially in that everytime I spoke we'd both get a low volume, high pitch screech. It cleared up with a little bit of twisting and poking of the plugs. I wonder if there's something dodgy in TAV's roof mounted plug panel! TAV was also needing a lot of Squelch before it would pick up my talking and that generated quite a lot of background buzz for the whole flight. I'm booked for in for Sunday afternoon and have VH-VFR, so I'm going to try and compare the sound experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extra260 Posted May 26, 2009 Author Share Posted May 26, 2009 Bugger. Not a happy flight then Vincent! I could have warned you about doing forced landings as Terry was telling Damian that that's what he wanted you to do when we finished up on Sunday arvo. I didn't even think of it. I kind of assumed you knew, sorry. A shame about the Zulu's too. We've both had headset issues now! I got to use my new ones on Sunday and they worked ok. Did you try you set in another aircraft and did you have TAV? I had a small issue with TAV initially in that everytime I spoke we'd both get a low volume, high pitch screech. It cleared up with a little bit of twisting and poking of the plugs. I wonder if there's something dodgy in TAV's roof mounted plug panel! TAV was also needing a lot of Squelch before it would pick up my talking and that generated quite a lot of background buzz for the whole flight. I'm booked for in for Sunday afternoon and have VH-VFR, so I'm going to try and compare the sound experience. Hmmm.. the one thing we didn't try was plugging into the other pilots sockets. I still think they are buggered though, I get all sorts of weird noises when I turn them on now. Also, they worked when the ANR was off, I could hear myself and Damian, but when I turned ANR on I couldn't hear anything (ANR was working though as it was very quiet!), although Damian said he could still hear me. I called the Lightspeed repair agent (TriStar Aviation in melb), but the person I needed to speak to wasn't there, still waiting for a call back. Vincent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jones Posted May 26, 2009 Share Posted May 26, 2009 wow $1200 for a headset and i thought a $500 headset was expensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Extra260 Posted May 26, 2009 Author Share Posted May 26, 2009 wow $1200 for a headset and i thought a $500 headset was expensive. The trouble with buying headsets, is it's very difficult to try before you buy. I spent weeks googling and asking people I knew, in the end I figured if I went for top of the range I couldn't be far wrong. It was a toss up between the Zulu's and the BoseX - went for the Zulu's because it had bluetooth. It's a fantastic headset, when it's working \ Vincent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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