November 2012
Recently I flew with my friend Dean in his single engine aircraft. I was photographing our friend’s newest airplane, so I opened the window. This rather large opening created lots of fresh air. And lots of wind noise.
Dean and I just shouted back and forth to each other (cross-cockpit, that is) to communicate. Even though it was a relatively short flight, I could feel that my vocal chords were strained after we landed.
Now I am climbing out as the pilot a larger aircraft, which obviously creates a greater amount of wind noise than in Dean’s plane. I never realized how loud it was in this cockpit, either, until I donned my new Sennheiser Digital S1 headset. All that air rushing up over the nose of my plane has been reduced to what sounds like a very light breeze.
After turning on the headset’s active noise reduction, it gets even more unbelievably quiet in the cockpit. With ANR canceling out all of the unwanted noise, I’m able to hear other, more important things. Like the radios.
With a Sennheiser S1, I can listen to the ATIS while still monitoring the active ATC frequency. I was not able to do this in the past—with other headsets, that is. Before, I would always have to completely turn down one of the radios to hear the other radio. This headset is so quiet that all I hear is the beginning and end of the trim motor engagement.
The audio quality is by far the best of any headset that I have worn in the past. However, if the audio is not to your liking, you can adjust it manually by changing the bass and/or treble. Everyone’s ears are different, so this is a great added feature to make the S1 sound even better to you.
You can also listen to your music while flying. This can be done wirelessly through any Bluetooth-capable device. The music will automatically fade-out during radio transmissions, or you can deselect that feature for no fading of your music.
The depth and clarity of the music and ATC communications on the S1 headset is so good that you don’t even need to use this fade-out feature. As long as the music isn’t turned up too loud—and you can multitask—you can hear both equally well. You can also adjust the volume to each ear, independent of each other, via left and right sliders.
After flying all day, my head didn’t hurt a bit. The ear cushions offer a comfortable over-the-ear fit, and I never experienced any hot spots. This headset is well worth the money spent. You will be less fatigued when you arrive at your destination—and you cannot put a price on that.
Not to mention, your hearing will last a whole lot longer. The only complaint in the cockpit now is coming from the copilot who doesn’t have a Sennheiser headset—he has to repeat himself much more often. It’s not because of my hearing, it’s just that this darn headset is so peacefully quiet.
Robb Gessert is an airline pilot and contributing photographer for Piper Flyer magazine. Send questions or comments to editor@piperflyer.org.
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Sennheiser S1 digital headset
sennheiser-aviation-s1.com
