Bose A20 Pirep

For headsets I've got two Zulu 1's and one Bose X as well as a QT Halo and then a mish mash of non-ANR sets.  I've had LightSpeed Zulu's for a long time and they are a good headset, and until now were what I prefered to wear.  The Bose X is pretty good, but I have big ears and the cups wouldn't quite fit over them.  The QT Halo is okay in a pinch and the price is right, but I just don't like the in-the-ear headsets and it's nowhere near as good at drowning out the low pitch noise.  So when I had a full ship, the kids would take the Zulu's and my wife would wear the BoseX, and I'd wear the QT Halo.  I finally decided I can't handle the in the ear thing anymore and I'd get a new set, and so I bought the new Bose the A20.

This is the hands down the best and most quiet headset I've ever worn, and it fits over my ears.  Hurray!

Highly recommended.  It's so ridiculously quiet you almost can't hear the engines.  It drowns out nearly all the low frequency vibrations and so you just hear a light higher pitch rumble and feel the smooth vibrations of the big bore Continentals.  The sound coming from the XM sounds amazing too, it's like a concert hall.  I'm going to sell all my other headsets and get 3 more of these suckers.  They're pricey but worth it.

Buzz Kill

In all my free time, haha, I help run a local flying club.  I finally convinced the other club managers that we should update the airplanes with modern WAAS gps units, so we did.  I coordinated the install with Executive Autopilots up at KSAC.  Overall a great experience and a solid shop I highly recommend for local avionics work.  Here is how the installs turned out:

Our venerable 172 gets a GTN 650

Our 182RG gets a GTN 750

Sweet, now I'll have good solid IFR backup for when my plane goes to the paint shop... I sent my slot reservation deposit off to Don Copeland, but he's super busy so it's unlikely he'll be able to get to it until Octoberish.  Must have patience for the master!

While I was up at Executive Autopilots I asked Dan the owner about a problem with my XM that's been bugging me for some time.  I hear an constant background buzz when the music goes soft.  He said I probably needed to install a noise isolator between the audio panel and the GDL69A.  It was only a $30 part so I decided to go for it.

It gets installed in the radome

Just that little black box right there smack in the middle of the photo above the wire bundle.

I still hear it ever so slightly, but it's definitely improved.  No one would notice unless they had good hearing and you asked them to listen for it in the lull between songs.

Momentary ice not so momentary

On today's flight I started picking up light to moderate rime ice pretty quickly, I hit momentary on the windshield ice to get her a squirt to get it clear, but when I released the switch it kept streaming out. Doh, no matter where I put the switch it wouldn't stop and I used up all my fluid in a matter of a few minutes. Luckily I climbed 2k feet and got on top and eventually it sublimated away, but obviously something I need to get fixed! 

Oh well, another squawk to deal with!  

My flying club finally decided to do some avionics work on our Cessna's so I flew our 172 up to Sac to get that done.  It had been some time since I've flown a 172, so despite my 95 kt landing speed and endless float, not to mention the sunrise launch, I had some fun with it...

While I was there I talked to the shop about updating the GTN's in my Baron.  When we went to pickup the plane, I went ahead and had them do the software update.  The difference is amazing, it's like the units have been updated with a faster processor, everything is more snappy.  The frequency buttons change quicker, and the backfill render is at least 2x faster.  More importantly, I now get geo referenced charts, woot!

Cool, just in time for a trip.  Here is one of my copilots

Some beautiful weather lately, at least from the air