Rough River 2005 was a blast! This flyin keeps getting better. I am starting to really get to know several of the builders and flyers. Many are starting to recognize me. We had a really good turn-out this year. I heard we had about 70 canards. Even a vari-viggen showed up.

Here are some pictures from the event. Sorry I never take enough photos at these events. I tend to have too much fun talking to everyone.

Please comment on any picture by clicking on it.

Rough River 2005 Picture

I was out working in the garage today when I heard an airplane overhead. It appeared to be a Glasair, but I wasn't sure. So I turned on the aviation scanner and continued to work. Soon I overheard '321DF' downwind for Miller. That was all I needed to hear, I knew exactly whose plane it was. I didn't know which of the two partners was out flying. I jumped in the car and drove about 4-5 miles out to the small local airport. There sat the beauty.

I met Sam several years ago at a wedding he was photographing; my wife was a bridesmaid. We are both photographers. He has about 30 years more experience and is full time, where as I do it part-time. We somehow found out that we both have an interested in Aviation. We've kept in touch since then. He has since photographed our wedding and I still contact him for business & photography advice.

Sam and his partner have spent something like the last 13 years and 11,000 hours building a Glasair. Sam and Randy do nothing unless it's to perfection. They approached the plane the same way. Sam commented once, if they where to do just an average job, they might as well buy one.

Well it paid off big at Oshkosh this year. They won one of the prestigious Outstanding Workmanship award. The plane is absolutely magnificent I saw Sam & his plane at Osh and then again at a local air show. Each time Sam told me he'd take me up when our scheduled agreed. Today they did.

I showed up at the airport. A couple people were standing around the plane, Sam still in the left seat. I approached the plane, and he gave a warm welcome. He didn't delay in offering a ride; I would be second in line to his nephew. He was curious how I knew he just landed. :)

Soon I strapped in and off we went. I have to say the plane flys very nice. Extremely stable and well balance controls AND FAST. Sam took off, but he quickly turned over the controls over to me and didn't touch the controls until on final. He showed me all the gadgets in his plane. He has a fully certified IFR panel, even has a lighting strike detector. I asked about if he considered a glass panel. He said 9 years ago when he laid the panel out, there was nothing on the market. Besides they purchased a wrecked airplane, had the instruments checked out and then sold the rest. Even after buying the AP and engine monitor they only spent $8k. If I remember correct, they have dual navcoms, DME, ADF, GPS, etc. It was an absolute delight to fly.

Would you believe I remembered to grab the camera, but didn't grab the memory card?


Added 11-9-05:
I just remembered that I took a pic of his plane at Osh. That is Sam standing facing the camera.

I go to church with Michele. Her brother, Mike, flys F-16s over in Iraq. Heres what happened in his own words

Here a link to the video:  (5meg)

I recieved it as a .dat file. I renamed it to a wmv and it seems to work. Does anyone know the correct way to determine the file type?

First I admit I am a terrible writer. Never did well in English, but here is what I can remember from the emergency last night.

We were working Tusk airspace from 12-15k when the cockpit went black, then lit up again and several system lights illuminated. All the typical lights for PTO shaft failure. I was in disbelief that it was PTO shaft failure do to the few that have occurred in the life of the F-16. So, after working quickly through other possibilities I determined it was in fact that. I had approximately 4000 pounds of fuel remaining and the EPU was running on air with 100% EPU fuel quantity remaining. Therefore, the EPU was not burning any hydrazine. This gave me time to work the problem and coordinate the landing.

I called a KIO with Antidote then switched the flight to U-1 Thud Ops and V-20 SOF. I used all available resources to back me up in the checklist on D-19. My wingman and Top 3 did an excellent job of verifying my steps in the checklist. We decided that with the lost B system Hydraulics an approach end cable arrestment was the best opportunity to successful recover the aircraft. The Red Tail SOF performed his duties exceptionally by giving me the current field conditions (clear, winds 150 at 5) and setting up the plan to land runway 32. We didnt have time to string a cable for the approach to 14. We have heard this takes much longer than the promised 20 minutes. With only a 5 knot tail wind, I thought this would be fine. The SOF and Top 3 talked with the OG to get his concurrence.

Then the runway lights on the airfield went out. This required me to either land with NVGs on, divert, or face controlled bailout. I didnt like one other option of landing normally down the runway toward a departure cable do to the runway conditions- dips, FOD, and spawling that could cause directional problems. Without normal braking and nose wheel steering, I felt going off the edge was a likely scenario and that would be more dangerous than controlled bailout. Also, diverting with a sick aircraft across Iraq was worse than bailing out just outside the fence or over the infield. So, if the attempted approach didnt work that would have been the plan.

I completed the cable arrestment checklist to ensure no items were missed. The SOF made an excellent call to have trucks on each side of the runway shine their lights on the cable. This gave me a great reference to exactly where the aircraft should start its deceleration in the cable. If the hook skipped on the bad concrete and missed the cable I planned on taking it around. The SOF also worked OG approval for me to land with the NVGs on. I slowed to 220 to alternate gear extend. The gear came down quickly. I set myself up on about a 6 mile final and lowered the hook. I had my wingman verify it was down. I noticed that the landing light was reflecting off of the moisture and dirt in the air which washed out the airfield making it difficult to see through the NVGs, so I turned that off.

As I approached the field my NVGs were gained down by the airfield and building lights. I approached the field shooting for a touchdown on brick two. The cable was 2000 feet down. The first approach was off by about 10 degrees do to me lining up with a vehicle that I perceived to be along the runway but was actually offset east about 100 feet. The airfield lights moved out of the NVG FOV at about 1 mile which allowed me to barely see the runway. I determine I could not land so I took it around. I had about 2700 pounds at this point.

For the second approach, I had my wingman sparkle the approach end of the runway with his IR marker. This combined with a close cross check of my heading and dialed in ILS got me lined up. I had no AOA indications in the HUD and no ILS data in the HUD just the round dials for that. No big deal, but this made the cross check from outside through the goggles to inside under the goggles difficult do to my eyes not fully night adapted. I had to stare just a little at the gauges to interpret them even with the lights on the primary instruments full up. This is why we have the rule of taking the goggles off 5 min prior to land to allow our eyes to adjust.

I planned the approach at 13 AOA. The LEFs programmed so the part about 12 AOA max and 200 kias min did not apply. I had no AOA in the HUD so computed my approach speed and again cross checked the round dials. . I turned the landing light on at about 1 mile and it lit up the ground nicely as seen in the NVGs.

(Looking at the TGP video from my wingman, I think I touched down about 300 feet down the runway at 150 kts). I aligned just about 6 feet right of centerline, again thinking about the poor runway conditions and wanting to avoid the centerline cracks and bumps. The hook engaged the cable somewhere between 140 and 150 knots, I think. The jet quickly decelerated.

Just as the jet came to a stop the cockpit began to fill with fumes that burned my eyes. My eyes were burning and watering to the extent I could not see. I quickly performed an emergency ground egress. I was on 100% oxygen so thankfully I did not inhale any vapors. I did however, hold my breath as I unhooked and exited to the left away from the aircraft. The only switch I did not get fully off when exiting was the EPU. The crash rescue crews completed that which stopped the EPU operation.

It is apparent now that do to the light tail wind as soon as I stopped forward motion the EPU exhaust began to fill the cockpit through the ECS system. This overcame me to the extent of me prioritizing getting out of the jet verses completing the checklist on D-19. Our CAPs for emergency ground egress don't include turning the EPU off. Looking back I would have like to have accomplished that task rather than have the fire rescue team do that.

Overall, I was please with the support and professionalism displayed by my wingman, Top 3, and the SOF. Although the approach and landing on NVGs with no runway lighting to and approach end arrestment was challenging, their efforts made it a success. The safe recovery of the aircraft could not have occurred without their support.

Our company had a sales & service meeting in Albuquerque, NM. On Monday we had several planed activities. The boring people went golfing or wine tasting. Everyone else went up in hot air balloons. About 35 from our company went up in these 10 person balloons. On a cold day I was told that they could out climb a Cessna!!!

Hot Air Balloon Pictures

Amy & I visited St. Louis over her spring break. Amy was the one that mentioned that we should visit the Cozy Girls. I think she was still trying to convince me to go. :)

We probably visited for about three hours and that was nowhere near enough time. The quality of their work is absolutely outstanding. Some of the ideas they've come up with are very innovative. The latching mechanism for the canopy absolutely boggles the mind. It has a latch on the inside and outside. One or both can operate the canopy. I really like how their heating and venting system for the cabin will work. I would have never thought about RC model servos for operating the vents, but hey it makes sense. Chrissi said she's been using them for years with a lot of success. I really like the angle pieces at the edge of the instrument panel! It really makes it look better (as if the Blue Mountains didn't already do that).

As for the Cozy Girl Strakes, I'm totally sold. I've sat in a LEZ before, but never thought about the mod for the Cozy. When Chrissi first told me about it, a light bulb went off. It just made sense. After sitting in the plane, I love it. I knew it gave you more elbow room. I didn't expect to be able to stretch!

I got a sneak preview of the new parts the Cozy Girls will be offering. I have to say the new Cozy Girls parts are extremely well done. I'm impressed with the attention to little detail and little things they're doing to make it easier on the builder.

We also spent a little time just socializing about work and life. It was neat to finally see some of Chrissi work. I knew she had designed a lot of medical equipment, but to see some of the more inventive things was fun.

Did I mention my wife fell in love with their renovated bathroom!

Check out the pictures at:
Cozy Girls Pics

Brian DeFord owned a beatiful Cozy MK-IV which he affectionaly called 'Blonde Streak.' He was one of the early builders that spent the time and effort to document the process on the internet. His website has inspired and help countless builders. The loss of his plane is deeply felt by the canard community. His story will give you cold chills...

Where do I begin?...

Saturday, Aug 5, I spent a couple of hours at the airport re-attaching some rebuilt baffles on the engine after returning from 2-1/2 weeks of vacation. Haven't had a lot of time to fly this summer - last time was in May - due to heavy priorities at work and home. Been kinda hot here in Phoenix too and I've been doing all my work outdoors on the ramp.

After getting everything all buttoned up I wanted to start the engine as it had sat for so long. No go - the battery just wasn't up to it. So I removed the battery and took it home to charge it over the weekend.

My first day back to work was Monday, so I decided to bring the battery with me and install it after work. About 5:45 I arrived at the airport and proceeded to install the battery. The plane was on its nose as usual when I work in the back seat. After getting the cables hooked up I hopped into the front seat and turned on the master, checking the VM1000 engine monitor to see that the voltage was where it needed to be and turned the fuel valve to the fullest (right) tank. OK, before starting I want to do a walk around and make sure everything was clear. I hopped out of the plane and switched on the nose gear motor to extend the nose gear. After it was out I walked to the front of the plane and as I approached the canard I saw and white/grey smoke drift by the canard. As I looked up I could smell the distinct odor of burning electrical wiring and saw the smoke coming from the top of the cowl.

I raced around to the cockpit and shut the fuel valve off (but didn't think to shut the master off) and then in a panic could not remember where my fire extinguisher was. I tore the front seat cushion off thinking it was under my seat (that's where I kept it until I had the plane upholstered). When I didn't see it under the seat, the real panic set in. I called the tower from my cell phone and told them to please send the fire truck to tie down 330, got confirmation and hung up. At this point I still thought it was just some wires burning so I raced to the cowl with my screwdriver and removed the 4 screws temporarily holding the top cowl on. As soon as I removed the cowl flames jumped up between the firewall and the engine. I kept thinking "where is the fire truck?" and looked to see if it was coming but didn't see a thing. He fire was crackling now.

We had a storm moving into the valley last night - typical this time of year. The winds were picking up from the south and were blowing from the engine to the nose of the plane. I called 911 and told them I needed fire trucks at the Chandler airport immediately - they were already on the way. Seems Chandler Municipal doesn't have a fire truck and that's who the tower called.

I could not see the origin of the flames other than they were coming from that space between the engine and firewall. The winds were blowing the flames out through the NACA scoop and the smoke was turning from grey to black. In almost an instant the flames reached up from the scoop around the aft fuselage. The smoke was billowing black within a matter of a few seconds. I think this is when I first realized the plane was going to be lost. It was just going so fast. I could hear the sirens faintly in the distance and knew they would never make it in time.

I got in my truck which was parked a couple of feet in front of the nose of the plane and moved it further away. All I could do at this point was watch it go up in flames. The fire trucks arrived but by the time the first drop of water hit the plane it was mostly just a small file of rubble where the fuselage had been. When the fuselage was consumed the plane took a final tip backward onto the winglets. The firemen ended up having to pour foam on the flames as water just wasn't stopping the flames that by this time were mostly engulfing the strakes and inboard wing sections. The news helicopters got a "breaking story" just at the end of the 6pm newscasts as the thick black smoke poured from the remains.

The wife of the FAA safety investigator just happened to drive by the airport as the plane was just starting to go up. She called her husband and he was on the scene before the flames were out. From first wiff of smoke to no more flames took all of 20 minutes. What was left was a pile of melted goo where the fuselage had been, a bunch of ash blowing around, the wings and spar held together but the structure of the wings was gone except for the outbopard two feet or so and the winglets remained upright with hardly any damage. The engine top side hardly looked any worse for the wear - the flames had all moved forward of the engine - but 2 of the 3 prop blades were mostly gone.

After giving the investigator my report as well as the police and fire officials, I started making plans to get the mess cleaned up. I went home and got some shovels and a broom and returned half an hour later to start shoveling the loose debris into my truck. The airport used their street sweeper to vacuum up much of the small stuff and we dragged the engine/wing hulk forward a bit and wrapped it in a tarp for overnight.

Tuesday morning at 6am my dad and I came to get the rest of it. We used an engine hoist to pull the engine off the firewall and stored it in a friends hangar (friend has a new Cozy in the test flight stages and did a flyby for me as dad and I cut through the spars to separate the wings from the firewall. We cut off the landing gear legs to reduce the weight somewhat and then picked up the firewall piece and layed it in the truck followed by the two wings. After covering it in a tarp we took a slow 45 minute drive through town to the landfill and deposited the remains there.

Nothing is left other than the engine. I'll try to get some salvage from it. No hull insurance, just liability and medical. It'll probably pay to have the tiedown space re-paved. Kind of sad.

As I walked up to the plane last night for the first time after talking to the fire officials, a piece of paper blew across the tarmac and landed at my feet. It was the only thing I could see from the pile of rubble that had any white color to it. I reached down and picked it up - it was a page from the New Testament of the Bible that I always kept in my flightbag, singed around the edges. I put it in my pocket and when I got home that night my wife and I took it out and read God's personal, wind delivered message to me. The page was from I Peter and chapter 4. Verses 12-13 in the middle of the page read " Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy."

Thank you Father for protecting me last night. I'm so thankful this happened while I was on the ground and no one was in the plane with me. Thank you for giving me so much joy in the building and flying of "Blonde Streak". I certainly don't understand what happened or why, but I don't question Your Sovereignty. You know my feelings of hurt, my questions of how did this happen and what went wrong. And while I may never know the reason for why this happened until I am in eternity some day with You, I am content that You know what is best for me.


Thanks for listening,
Brian DeFord

I've finally finished a goal that I've had for years. I received my private pilots license. I started a couple years ago, but had to stop due to time and money. I started studying again about in January and sometime in the spring I passed the written. In the middle of the training we found out that we'd be moving to Australia. Not wanting to give up and start over, we decided to really push.

Finally on August 12th, I passed the check ride!


I've since received the permanent card.


Here are some real rough numbers on my flight training.

I began my flight training in late 2003. Cessna was giving about fifty $1,000 scholarships to anyone between 18 & 25 who wanted to be a pilot. All you had to do is write a 500 word essay on why you wanted to be a pilot. I was 24 1/2 at the time and graduated with my bachelors just a few months before. Gee, do you think a 500 word essay was tough? Pretty easy. I also received the Cessna 'Cleared for Takeoff' DVD and book training set, a bag, manual to a c172, logbook, and a couple other things ($300 value). Pretty cool. I did have to use the credit at a Cessna Pilot Center. (By the way, I probably wouldn't recommend the 'cleared for takeoff' set; I thought it was too basic)

Search for my name here:
http://www.centennialofflight.gov/user/news_releases/press_aiaa_awards.htm

I quickly used that up and continued flying about once a week till mid 2004. That was when I went into sales on a commission only basis. So when I had the time I didn't have the money and when I had the money I didn't have the time. I fizzled on for a couple months and finally stopped training. At this point I had about 32 hours of which 4 were solo. Flight training at this location cost about $100 with instructor.

Over the next couple years I tagged along with a good friend of mine who was a CFI. We logged about a dozen hours in the process which he signed off in my logbook. Not much structured training, but it does help my total hours on the cheap. One flight was 7.2 hours when we ferried a c150 from Portland, IN (PLD) to Mena AR (KMEZ) to be painted. That actually was fun. I also flew along one several other trips, but we couldn't log for one reason or other.

Well last fall I accepted my current position and within a few months I was ready to finish my ticket. My cfi and I agreed that I should concentrate on finishing the bookwork and passing the written test. Then we could finish the flight training with one less distraction. So in January I started from page one and started the book work all over. I was finally ready to take the written about April. We started the flight training planning to stretch it out over a few months. Within a few weeks of starting, I was suddenly offered the position in Australia. At this point I had worked too hard to stop and then start over when we get back. So we pushed full steam ahead. One week I flew every night! We started in June and up until I Aug 12 we flew 38.3 with about 14 of that solo. Most of this training was done in a C150m which cost me $60 an hour. My CFI and I struck up one heck of a deal. We are good friends and he was recently engaged. I have a background as a professional portrait and wedding photographer. We agreed to swapped services. I took a great set of pictures for them, let them order as much as humanly possibly and even gave them the high resolution files. He then trained me for FREE!!! He probably got about $600 to $700 worth of photographs and his 24 hours of dual time at $35/hr is $840. We both came out well.

So to sum it all up.
I took the check ride at around 70 hours of flight training (actually 81 logged)

Training two years ago:
Plane 32hrs x $65 = $2,080
CFI 28hrs x $35 = $980
Scholarship -$1,000

This time
Plane 38hrs x $60 = $2280
CFI free

2,080 + 980 - 1,000 + 2280 = $4340 out of pocket
Actually add probably another $1,000 to that for misc things like:
check ride fee ($300)
written test ($90)
Various sectionals, FarAim, afd, etc
Renters insurance
Cost of shooting pictures and having prints made (probably cost me less than $100)

Also for comparison to most people add the scholarship back in and free CFI fees.

So for comparison, I'd say it would normally have cost me about $7,500 to get here.


Today, August 18, I have 89.7 hours and hope to log a couple more before we leave next week.

Good luck everyone. I feel like I could float on cloud nine all the way to Australia!!!

Amy and I are heading back from Australia to the states for Christmas.

Or at least we're trying to...

Our Qantas flight was scheduled to leave 9:20 this morning, but we ended up pushing back about 20 minutes late. No big deal on a 15 hour flight.

This time of year I knew the plane would be full with vacationers and gifts. We started down the run way. It did seam a little slower than normal, but I figured it was because the plane was at gross do to the passenger load and full fuel. Also I tend to fly the 757 domestically around Australia which has really good takeoff performance.

I was drowsy from being up late the night before packing, but it did seam like a long time without seeing any movement by the flight crew.

Then the captain comes on the PA to say that their seeing something unusual with the far right (#4?) engine. They were trying to sort it out and asked the flight attendants to hold off the beverage service. A little time passed and he came back and said the engine was surging earlier, but was able to get it to stop. They decided the safest course was to divert to Sydney. The problem is that we were fully fueled and was too heavy to land. The captain did a good job trying to keep everyone informed as to what was happening. We then flew a pattern out over the ocean while we dumped fuel... lots of it... I think he said 120,000kg. Here are some pictures from the dump. It is an impressive sight.

Amy asked me if I was worried. I told he that even if the engine quit that the plane should have no problem even making it to at least Hawaii.

Later I spoke with the Co-pilot and he had the same thought I did. He said he just dumped more fuel than his old bi-plane would ever use in it's lifespan.

So. Here we are still stuck in the Sydney Airport waiting for a replacement 747 on it's way in from London. Unfortunately it will not be here till 9pm! So will be missing our connecting flights and still do not know what flights we'll be on in the state yet.

I talked to one of the guys back in the office and he said that I must be furious. As inconvenient as it is, there is nothing that can be done. The captain absolutely did the correct and safest thing. When an airlines screws up baggage, bumps you, and operates slower than humanly possible , that's something to get frustrated with. But an unpredictable mechanical failure were safety is on the line, no it's not infuriating, just a little inconvenient.

Here's a quick video:

Such is life.

Someone else posted a near identical video on YouTube.

Part Two: What a dump (Part 2)

Well we've made it into LAX. After getting off the plane, representatives for Qantas was standing at the luggage carousal handing out the new routing slips. Our stated we would not be flying out until the 23rd! Amy & I grabbed our bags, flew through customs and headed for the ticket counter. We beat most of the people so the wait wasn't too bad. That was until we got the the counter! We had a very hard working young lady help us. She said she's been trying to get this 747 flight re booked for 8 hours. Every flight was completely booked for the next two days. The most obvious flights were already overbooked by 30 seats. We offered that not only could we fly into Fort Wayne, but also Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus, or Indy. All are within a 2-3 hour drive of home. The problem was that if she could get us on a flight somewhere that there were no guaranteed flight home from there. One option she offered was to list our standby tickets as standby crew. That would move us up the list.

Finally a combination pop up. We've been booked tomorrow for a 6:30am flight to St. Louis and finally into Indy. We should be home by late tomorrow afternoon!! They've put us up in a nice Hilton and given us meal tickets to the hotel restaurant.

This is much better than the next best alternative. We had been considering going on standby to Chicago . Then go on standby for a flight to Dayton. There was only one name on that standby list so that was a pretty good chance of working. What I didn't like was flying into Chicago this time of year. I heard it was down do to weather earlier today.

So finally when we finished and turned around, the line of people waiting was clear through the cue and halfway down the hall! I sure we were not liked at that moment!

We were lucky, one person I talked to said he can't get a flight until the 24th!

Nick Ugolini's website has motivated many pilots to build their own aviation headsets inspired after the Clarity Aloft. I tried the Clarity Aloft headset at Oshkosh a couple years ago along with several other major name brands like Bose, David Clark, etc.

I did like the Clarity Aloft because they are so light, but the small wires made them seem fragile. It's probably just my perception. I haven't been in the market to lay out $500+ dollars for headsets quite yet, so I passed.

When Nick posted his website I thought it was a great idea. I could try out a cup-less headset without the expense and make it too boot! After all, part of the fun of being an EAA member is building and using what you've built.

I built mine about a year ago when I was finishing up my ticket. I really like it and would now actually consider buying the Clarity or even the Lightspeed Mach 1. But in reality if these hold up and are reliable, I may never buy a high dollar headset.

Shure Headphones

On the advice of Nick, I purchased a set of Shure E3C headphones. The E3C is basically one step up from the bottom in the Shure product range and is reasonably affordable. My brother's church uses the E2 and they are considerably more bulky than the E3C. I opted for the professional E3C units. There is not much difference between the different models. The consumer version is white so is matches the Ipod for 'Hip' crowd. The gamers version is black and has a slightly shorter cord. The professional versions is all gray and can only be purchased from professional audio stores (no big deal). All three units have different packages to suit their market. I didn't want a white headset because the general public (and thieves) know that seeing a white headset means a high-dollar MP3 players is nearby.

Thoughts on the Shure E3C

As a side note I use the Shure headphones all the time. I fly around Australia about once a month and fly back to the states a least couple times a year. I have fallen in love with my Shure headphones while flying commercially and have abandoned my two old noise canceling headphones altogether. The Shure beats both of them hands down and is still small enough to fit in my pocket. Did I mention I love my Sure Headsets?

Comply Tips

I wholeheartedly agree with Nick's opinion of the Comply Foam tips. I purchased 6 of them and they are the only thing I use. They are more comfortable and quieter than any of the other tips that Shure provides with the E3c. I purchased the standard size tips. I have noticed the one in my right ear is slightly tighter than the left. I must have a small right ear canal. I know I'm weird. Comply does make a slightly slimmer Comply Tip that may fit my right ear better.

Prototype

This is the first unit I built as a prototype. It does not have microphone incorporated. The few times I flew with it I used the hand held mic or placed my normal heads around my neck and use its mic. It proved to me that the project was worth pursuing.

Headphones Adapter

This is second unit I built and I used a Radio Shack project box. I used an audio transformer to help match the power level between the plane and headset. Check out Nick's website and the links below for assistance in wiring the transformer. Nick used a fix resistor to control his headset volume, but I wanted more control. Radio shack has two dial style potentiometers (volume controls). One is linear and the other is logarithmic. As a human perceive sounds getting louder, the db level is increasing exponentially. This is the reason you need a Audio or Log style pot. The Radio Shack Audio-Taper (Log) Potentiometer is not really logarithmic, but two linear tapers combined to create an artificial log pot. From what I understand it is much easier and cheaper to create one this way versus a true log pot. In my all knowing, non-engineering mind, I thought I could do better. Researching the internet, I found that combining a standard resistor and the regular linear pot would create a true logarithmic curve. I don't remember what size resistor or pot I used, but I calculated the wrong resistor and now my home-made log pot is overly sensitive. I'll eventually change it to an audio-taper pot. It's what I should have done in the first place.

Another option is to skip the pot and spend another $10 when buying the Shure headphone and get the in-line attenuator. I use one when flying commercially because the in-flight audio is uncomfortably loud even when set at the lowest level. This gives me much finer control over the volume.

In the box I wired an 1/8" jack for the headset and used about 12 inches of cable and a standard 1/4 inch headphone jack to plug the box into the plane.

Behind the head wire Mic Holder

Taking cues from Nick and Clarity Aloft, I started working on the wire frame for the mic. I started with light duty wire and began to create a shape. Mine starts by curving over my left ear, down around the lower portion of my head and upper neck. Then is goes up over my right ear and finally down to my mouth. The portion around the back my neck helps counter-balance the mic.

I wanted the permanent frame to be very flexible, but still hold its shape. I looked for the heaviest gauge piano wire I could find. Fortunately my wife is an accomplished classical pianist and our piano tuner is a close family friend. I phone call later yielded me about 4 feet of the heaviest wire she had available.

Bending up the piano wire to make the same shape is tedious and time consuming. To create the gentlest of curves required curling it quite tight. The trick is not to kink the wire. Since I've started using it, the frame has held its shape nicely and acquired no accidental bends.

Mic Construction

I scrounged around for an old headset mic. My good friend, Mike 'Dust' Skorija, from the Canard Aviation Forum came to the rescue. He had built a homemade headset from RST Engineering. The headset works, but in some Pipers and Cessnas there has a terrible buzz when transmitting. RST promised Mike a filter but it was never received. This buzz did come back to haunt me later.

I ripped the headset apart to salvage the mic, plastic mic holder, the electronic circuit board, and the aviation mic plug.

The plastic mic holder was cut and sanded down to just large enough to hold the mic and be floxed to the the wire headband. The electronic circuit board which came from the RST earphone would be placed in the box with the audio transformer. An audio wire would need to be run from the mic to the box. Out the other side of the box with about 12 inches of cable is the aviation mic plug that will hook up to the airplane mic jack.

I didn't want to hard wire the mic wire from the mic to the box. I knew a setup like that would be asking for trouble. I wanted a mic jack on the box next the the headphones jack. I also intentionally did not use a standard 1/8" (3.5mm) headphones jack. I didn't want the possibility of confusing the two. Instead I used a cordless phone style jack which is 2.5mm.

To connect the mic to the box I used a cordless phone headset extension. It has 2.5mm female plug on one end and male on the other. Starting at the male end, I cut off what I thought would be a comfortable length to run from the mic to the box.

I measured the distance on the wire headset frame from the mic location to the back of my right ear. That is where my mic wire will leave the wire frame. This is how much of the outer insulation will need to be striped from the cut end of the phone extension cable.

I purchased a 3 foot length of heat shrink from the local electrical supply house. It has a nice flat black look. Slide enough heat shrink over the wire to cover the striped insulation. Also slide a 1-2" section of larger heat shrink on top of the first. DO NOT HEAT SHRINK YET. At last I solder the mic wires to the extension wires.

In the last picture you can see half of the plastic mic holder on the mic.

Assemble Headset Frame

Now it is time to attach the mic to the wire frame. Take the wire frame and feed it mic end first into the smaller shrink tube attached to the mic audio wire. It may be a tight fit. Feed the wire from the plug end to the mic end. I then bent a small V on the mic end of the wire to help position and hold the mic. Assemble the plastic mic holder around the mic and flox it to the bent wire. Let it cure.

Now slide the heat shrink up next to the mic. Begin shrinking it while carefully aligning and straightening the mic wires underneath so they run neatly along the piano wire. Leave the larger heat shrink alone for now.

To finish up the headset frame, slide more heatshrink tubing from the other end of the frame. This will butt up to and under the mic wire leaving the frame. This will give the entire headset a black look and make it a little more comfortable to wear. Also lightly sanding and coating the piano wire with 5-minute epoxy will keep the heatshrink from twisting or moving.

Next slide the larger heatshrink up and slightly over where the mic wire leave the frame. This gives a little additional comfort over the ears and finishes the headset nicely. Finally add a mic cover.

Electronic

I don't know what the circuit board does or even if it's needed, so I decided to take the safe route and include it in the box. Only the mic functions are used as the I cut speaker wires off. I installed a 2.5mm female jack in the side of the box next to the 3.5mm headset jack. Soldered a short piece of wire from the headset jack to the circuit board. MAKE SURE YOU MATCH CORRECT WIRES FROM THE MIC TO THE CORRECT WIRES ON THE BOARD. Somewhere along the line I reversed mine and had to re-solder them. Don't forget to slide on heatshrink on before soldering the joint. (GUILTY) Now using the salvaged aviation mic plug, I connected it to the box with about 12 inches of cable and soldered it to the circuit board.

My box is tangle mess of wires. The circuit board could not fit and had to go in at an angle. I'll most likely make another one someday and clean up the installation.

Cost
**Added May 4, 2007**

Excluding the headphones I purchased the following from Radio Shack:
Project Box, Audio Transformer, 3.5mm female jack, 2.5mm female jack, Volume control, and Heat Shrink. I think I spent between $20 and $30.

Now I did already have or was given the following: Junk Headset for Mic, Aviation Mic and Speaker Plug. Piano Wire, Epoxy, Cordless Phone Extension, misc wire.

If you had to buy everything, you could probably still build one for less than $50 if really shop around and find a junk headset on the cheap.

I really liked the idea of the Shure headphones and I knew that with my upcoming job transfer I would be flying commercially frequently. I think I paid $150-$200 for them plus a few dollars extra for the Comply tips. They have come down a little since then. A year later I am only on my second pair of Comply tip, they seem to hold up well.

Conclusion

I have probably 20-30 hours on my headset and absolutely love it. It is extremely quiet and comfortable. The nasty buzz daemon came back to haunt me. With one of the C172 I rent, there is a terrible buzz anytime I press the PTT button. The intercom works fine, but there must be a compatibility problem between the RST mic and the radio. There are no problems with the other planes I've flown.

A nice addition is a clip on the wires to attach them to your shirt. It will keep the wires from pulling at the headset.

I'd really like to be able to source a reasonably good mic and associated electronics so we don't have to scavenge for old parts. If anyone knows how to to this, let me know! I regret not taking more photos, I didn't expect to write a how-to article.

My appreciation goes out to Nick for inspiring me to build my own headset. Thanks Nick!

Useful Links

Examples built by other people
- Nick Ugolini (Cup-less Headset) - The Master Himself
- Pete Howell - A Van's RV flyer
- Carl Peters - Another Van's RV flyer
- HardCorePawn - Another builder in New Zealand
- Smitty Smith - The editor of Fun Places to Fly and RV builder.

- Clarity Aloft
- Lightspeed
- Halo Technologies
- Shure
- Comply's Canal website by Hearing Componets. Typically a pair (2) will cost about $4 a set.
- Trick Audio is a good place to buy Comply tips.
- The Ear Plug Store is another source.
- Good Article on using Headphones in Airplanes by Jim Weir of RST Engineering.
- RST Engineering headset from where I scavenged my mic.
- Aircraft Spruce has a few Mic & Accessories. I wonder if you need any electronic to drive these mics?
- Mobile One Electro Acoustics - My thanks goes to Spodman for the link. Good source of info on mics.

Some Misc websites I found about Volume Controls:
- Resistors: Turn up the volume
- The Secret Life of Pots

Link to this page:
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