I guess it’s noisy in here

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There was a time when men would fly with zero ear protection with a lot cigarette in one hand
 
I flew for over 25 years and a couple thousand hours without ever using a headset (except in the infernally noisy McCulloch J-2 Gyroplane). Remember tinny cabin speakers, and hand-held microphones draped over the yoke?

I'm grateful that my hearing is still very good.
 
I flew for over 25 years and a couple thousand hours without ever using a headset (except in the infernally noisy McCulloch J-2 Gyroplane). Remember tinny cabin speakers, and hand-held microphones draped over the yoke?

I'm grateful that my hearing is still very good.
Yeah, that’s what my Dad said. He finally got hearing aids a couple of years ago. ;)
 
I remember originally learning in a Cessna 150 using just the hand mic and external speaker. Using a hand mic in the pattern while manipulating the throttle, flaps, etc., made things more interesting. These days I never fly without noise cancelling, can never go back. I don't even care to taxi without hearing protection.
 
I remember originally learning in a Cessna 150 using just the hand mic and external speaker. Using a hand mic in the pattern while manipulating the throttle, flaps, etc., made things more interesting.
Now the old saying of "don't drop the plane to fly the mic" doesn't make as much sense.
 
Yeah, I don’t know how I went without ANR for as long as I did.

Although I do still remember my first time flying with my Bose. I turned the ANR off because I couldn't "hear" what the airplane was doing. Took several flights to get comfortable using it.
 
There was a time when men would fly with zero ear protection with a lot cigarette in one hand
I'm an old fart, learned to fly in the mid 50s. Why did we need headsets when there were no radios? Smoke in an airplane? Why not? Just be careful that your butt didn't get under the floorboards and ignite the oily fabric that had been painted with nitrate dope!:rolleyes:
 
95 dB? B*tch, please. Took a sound meter with me in my Fly Baby once. 105 dB at chest height, in cruise.

In my NORDO days, I started with cotton stuck in my ears, but quickly graduated to real ear plugs. Been toying with getting some custom-cast ear buds. Might try a throat mike, too.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I remember originally learning in a Cessna 150 using just the hand mic and external speaker. Using a hand mic in the pattern while manipulating the throttle, flaps, etc., made things more interesting.
I did too. I also remembering my CFI turning up the volume on the speaker and telling me that he was going to set it there because he was wearing earplugs, and if I wanted to save my hearing, I should too. So I did.
 
Robust passive all the way for this guy. ANR keeps you vulnerable at the higher freqs in 3-D, while giving you the sensory placebo that things are safe and quiet spectrum wide. Breath vs depth. I'm willing to endure the weight penalty or material discomfort of the insulation in my hearing holes. :D
 
I caved. Cashed in my man-card. I wear mickey mouse ears and ear plugs for air tools and bench tools in my shop now. I have closed captioning on for the TV now. And, a couple of weeks ago I bought a pair of Bose A20s. I am amazed at how much better my radio works now. Even at WOT on take off, I can clearly hear the numbskull whos doing a straight-in from the opposing runway. Life is less exciting now. But, maybe I'll live a little longer, and be able to hear when St. Peter comes knocking.
 
Although I do still remember my first time flying with my Bose. I turned the ANR off because I couldn't "hear" what the airplane was doing. Took several flights to get comfortable using it.
I never had a problem with that transition (in fact, “I can’t hear the airplane” is exactly what guys were saying in the 80s about plain old noise attenuating headsets.) ;)
 
What's funny is I had enabled that feature on the watch after the last update advertised it, mainly out of curiosity. I have since been wearing this watch while mowing, operating power tools, shooting guns, etc and this is the first alert I've seen from it.
 
About half of my flight time has been without headsets, a lot of it was in a quiet cockpit Falcon 20. I almost always used hearing protection when outside the 20 with the APU running. I still have good hearing, better than my wife. My dad with 25K hours lost a lot of his hearing by the time he passed. Most of the loss was probably during his Air Force Mechanic days tuning afterburners on F86's without hearing protection.

Loudest cockpit I have been in was an RV-6 with out insulation, even louder than the Lodestar I crewed on.
 
After a day of flying a C-206/7 with passive headsets I would have a massive banging headache and absolutely no energy.

The first day I used my ANR headset I finished the day feeling a lot better and actually had energy to spare.
 
I’m pretty sure none of my tinnitus is from flying or shooting. I did spend 20-plus years working in computer rooms on mainframe equipment. Lots and lots and lots of fans and motors. A few years of your life with your head crammed under the cover of an IBM 1403 printer while it’s printing pretty much guarantees high frequency hearing impact, I think.
 
I grew up flying with my folks in noisy old airplanes. Many, many hours in radial engines with no hearing protection. I have since flown myself a couple of thousand hours in mostly noisy old airplane, including many more hours in radials and didn’t really start using any hearing protection until mid-80s. I also shot small arms a great deal starting as a kid and never used hearing protection until going into the Army in 1981. I’m guessing 20 years shooting howitzers in the Field Artillery. I fired over 60,000 rounds in my first four years, as a Lieutenant. After 20 year I was likely over 100,000 rounds. That is an unusually high number, but I did two tours shooting for the artillery school house train all Army and Marine artillery officers and forward observers. The big difference it, once in the Artillery, I started wearing hearing protection.

My tinnitus is pretty constant but not too loud, but I can still pretty well, which surprised the docs during my Army retirement physical hearing test.

My dad was an d school crop duster...back when it really was dust. A windshield on a duster caused a low pressure sucking the dust into the cockpit. The solution was removing the windshield. In 10,000+ ag hours, he never wore hearing protection or a helmet. In the Stearman he wore only goggles. Engine noise coupled with 100mph slipstream destroyed his hearing. He was pretty hard of hearing by the time he passed in 2000.


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