in our August report, we were impressed with Lightspeed Aviation’s new Zulu PFX headset, but had issues with consistent ANR performance. At press time this month, Lightspeed sent us a new headpad that improved its fit and performance, transforming the headset.
The market for high-end noise-cancelling aviation headsets has become crowded over the last few years. At $1100, high-end aviation headsets are expensive, but in inflation-adjusted dollars, they’re half what they cost when Bose introduced them in 1988.
Feed the machine. That’s what app maker ForeFlight needs to do to maintain its 75 percent share (by its own estimation) of the GA cockpit app market. ForeFlight’s popularity creates a tremendous task of adding new features and improvements on a regular basis because the nature of the app market is such that the more features you add, the more users will demand. There’s also stiff competition from other companies, including Hilton Software with its WingX Pro 7 app, and Garmin, with its Pilot app, to name a couple. There’s also a growing Android market. It’s a vicious cycle that we think is spinning out of control, but that’s a different matter.
While number four for takeoff on a 95-degree day, windows and doors open to catch any puff of moving air, every pilot ever minted has wished for air conditioning. With installed units starting at over $4500 and eating up at least 50 pounds of useful load, most owners are willing to sweat a bit and then climb to cooler air.
In a flight planning app market that’s been dominated by Apple iOS, it’s easy to overlook apps designed specifically for the Android platform, but we think that’s changing. Tablets from Samsung, Google and others are proving to be just as capable as Apple’s offerings for less money.
It takes a while for otherwise common technologies to filter down to aircraft applications. And so it went with LED lighting, with welcomed advantages.
It’s no news to anyone that general aviation airplane cabins are loud. After all, the engines have minimal mufflers, the thin aluminum skins vibrate like a drum, the exhaust exits ahead of the cabin, the tail cone is shaped like a loudspeaker aimed at the occupants, the windows are thin, the prop tips are moving at a high percentage of Mach and the manufacturer’s sound insulation is minimal.
Whether you use a tablet for navigating, backing up flight instruments or fetching information on the fly, you know there are compromises. The reflective screen on the iPad doesn’t do we’ll in direct sunlight, full-size models are bulky when mounted on the control yoke and resting the device on a leg or kneeboard creates distracting heads-down time.
Perhaps we should just admit resistance is futile. Glass cockpits look cool and make a lot of money for airframe and avionics manufacturers, They’re here to stay. But, with two-hour checkouts now becoming 10-hour events for glass newbies, what can you do to cut down on that $200-an-hour checkout dual so you can actually afford to rent and enjoy a 172 or Archer?
It’s hard to believe that Garmin’s current G3X Touch integrated avionics suite was born from the company’s GPSMAP696 portable GPS. The original G3X utilized the 696 portable GPS control set and display, but was connected to a remote ADAHRS system.
Because of design, certification and insurance costs, the OEM industry is hobbled with a rather arcane system of pricing replacement parts. When it comes to interior plastic parts—like a window molding, hinge cover or a glove box overlay, for example—a couple of dollars’ worth of plastic becomes a $400 part simply because of its unique shape and application.
The most unsung aviation invention of the past 40 years isn’t diesel engines or glass panels, but the lowly headset, without which most of us would be deafer than we already are. And if headsets are to do their stuff, they need to be plugged into effective intercom systems (ICS), a product category that improves with each new iteration.
