Our out-of-warranty (and relatively ancient) LightSPEED headset was repaired a second time by the factory at no charge, except for replacement ear pads.

by Paul Bertorelli

Not to sound too cynical, but there are moments when we’ve had it up to here with the heady romance and magic of flight. We experienced one of those recently when, during the course of a 2000-mile business trip in our Mooney, all three noise-canceling headsets failed. We limped back home barking irritated radio replies into a hand mic and trying to listen to a scratchy speaker.

Getting the headsets repaired—two LightSPEEDs and a Telex—sent us through the aviation industry’s highly variable direct service repair system and prompted us to survey how companies actually determine what their repair rates and policies will be. The good news is that, in…