Shopping for Airplane Accessories

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Headsets

Typically noise-cancelling headsets require filling your airplane with spare batteries and fussing with power packs and batteries before and after every flight. You can hire an avionics shop to uglify your panel by adding special power connectors, such as the LEMO connectors that are sometimes call "Bose-style," but these are non-standard and you may not be able to switch among headest brands. Back around 2000 Sennheiser came up with a solution to this problem: tip power. Airplanes can be ordered wired from the factory with 14V or 28V power at the tip of the microphone jack. This precludes the use of a hand microphone with push-to-talk switch but all modern airplanes have separate hand-mic inputs anyway. Plug in your Sennheiser headset and you have noise-cancelling without extra cables, plugs, or battery packs. My Diamond Star, like all Canadian-built DA40s, came wired from the factory and a Sennheiser HMEC 302 worked like a charm with it. Sadly other headset companies and airplane manufacturers did not follow Sennheiser's lead. Sennheiser eventually wised up and quit the aviation market altogether.

Here is my personal experience with headsets:

• Bose: light and comfortable but (a) not very rugged, (b) not quiet enough for truly loud airplanes due to limited passive attenuation, and (c) not capable of handling high audio levels to cut through earplug attenuation (i.e., the speakers blew out when I tried this). Every passenger in a Cirrus SR20 who has tried both Bose and Lightspeed has stated a preference for the Bose. People rave about Bose's commitment to owners and report many repairs made at no charge, even outside the official warranty period. On the used market, Bose is king. Sarasota Avionics, as of March 2021, for example, offered $600 in trade-in credit for a Bose A20 and only $400 for a Lightspeed Zulu 2.
• Lightspeed Zulu: reasonably light weight, somewhat more passive noise attenuation than the Bose, and good active noise cancelling. Unfortunately, 3 out of 4 Zulu 2s that we purchased failed just after the warranty ended. We paid $300 each to repair and upgrade them to Zulu 3. One quirk with these is that they come back from Lightspeed with a DIP switch set for mono. If plugged into a G6 Cirrus with the latest G1000, the result is that the speakers work for a few seconds and then shut off, making you think that the headset is broken.
• David Clark: Reasonably quiet, very high quality, superb reputation for durability (conventional supplier for the military and NASA). Traditionally considered not as quiet or comfortable as Bose or Lightspeed, but more than quiet enough when augmented with earplugs. We use the heavy old-style H10 in our Robinson R44 helicopter. It gets uncomfortable after 3 or 4 hours. The DC ONE-X is David Clark's answer to Bose/Lightspeed, but I haven't tried it.
• Telex Stratus 50D: These are huge and heavy and provide tremendous passive noise attenuation as well as pretty good active noise cancellation. They can no longer be repaired, however, and Telex has quit the general aviation market.

Don't be too tempted by bargain headsets. Remember that noise is fatiguing and that headset failure means you are no longer talking to Air Traffic Control. Also, always carry a backup additional headset! Three headsets in the plane if it is you and an instructor!

Headsets for children

Earplugs

Charts

An iPad Mini tablet with ForeFlight is probably the most popular choice.

Anker chargers are spec'd for 12-24 volts, but they seem to work fine in a 28V airplane cigarette lighter.

Folding Bicycles

If on the other hand you'd like to stay slim enough to get off the tarmac without investing in a Cessna Caravan, consider this alternative: fly to a distant airport, pull bicycles out of back seat, ride around the local bike paths and streets, stuff face at cafe, ride back to the airport, fold bicycles back up, fly back home. With most general aviation airplanes you'll need a folding bike. Here's a survey of the traditional market:

• Dahon: easy to fold, very compact when folded, originally inexpensive but now with a full range of bikes from about $300 to almost $2000
• Montague: easy to fold, hardly any more compact when folded than a regular bike with both wheels removed, rides like a full-size bike (because it is one)
• Alex Moulton: the British genius who figured out how to make small wheels work ($2000 and up)
• Brompton Bicycle: still creative, expensive, and British but not as expensive or good as an Alex Moulton
• S and S Couplings: turn a $2000 custom titanium frame into the basis of a bike that travels as compactly as the Montague, for example
• Bike Friday: interesting moderately expensive American design
• Tern: high-end folding bikes from Taiwan

Flight Bag

The airplane owner brings the following items into the plane: pencil and one piece of scrap paper on which to write a clearance.

Depending on where you are in your flight training you may want a flight bag, at least for the padded headset compartment. I like the ones made by Noral Enterprises.

Dog Harness

To ensure that the dog does not try to push his way into the front seats and manipulate the flight controls, a harness is a good idea. The harness will also help the dog survive a crash if you're in a modern airplane such as a Diamond or Cirrus with a "safety cockpit". Visit www.canineauto.com to buy a harness that has worked well for some of us Boston pilots and that has been clipped successfully to the seat belts in both a Diamond Star DA40 and a Cirrus SR20.

The Pilot's Wristwatch

Q: What do you get when you cross an ape with a pilot?
A: An ape with a big watch.

The most practical watch for aviation seems to be one that will show both local time and Zulu time (GMT). Torgoen makes a moderately extensive line of Zulu Time watches. These incorporate accurate quartz movements. Luminox makes some night-readable GMT watches. Seiko makes some "kinetic GMT" watches that never need batteries and yet are Quartz-accurate.

If you want to spend 40X as much money on a Rolex, send it in every few years to the former president of the American Watchmaker's Institute, Jack Kurdzionak (www.thewatchmaker.com), and he can try to make it run as accurately as a $40 Timex.

If you don't mind a watch that needs to be charged frequently, Garmin makes a continuously improved watch that includes a GPS and navigation functions, as well as a pulse oximeter for the unpressurized crowd. (example) Apps on the Apple Watch, such as Aerovie ("Stratus Insight EFB"), offer similar capabilities.

Life Jackets

Life Raft

Desk Model

How eerie! My mother bought me that same exact Seiko model (black face) for my birthday last year when she was in Japan, more because of the form than the function (I think it looks great, even in the black.) I keep the 24 hour hand on Japan time but maybe it'd be cooler to set it to GMT? Another guy at work (Japanese expatriate) has the same watch so it must have something of a reputation.

-- Gen Kanai, January 23, 2002

I bought a mechanical ORIS watch while working in Boston about eight years ago. It's never off more than eight minutes in a month, and I've never had it serviced.

-- Carl Phillips, February 1, 2002

There is only one correct way to set GMT Master-like watches. Or at least, there is only one obvious setting for which it was designed; you are free to set your watch using any system you like, of course. This setting is detailed in the owner's manual that comes with the Seiko, and is as follows:

• 12 hour hands to local time
• 24 hour hand to GMT
• Bezel turned to read "other" time zone off of the 24 hour hand

Details for the GMT Master are given here.

-- Jin Choi, February 16, 2002

I have Citizen NaviHawk, which is designed for pilots. While it has analog hands, it is a digital watch. The hands are rotated on servo motors, which is what makes it so much fun to play with. Truly a geek toy. In addition to the large analog hands, there is a smaller set of hands for UTC. Then there is a digital display which can show the date, time and timezone, chronograph, three independent alarms, or timer. You can change timezones on the digital display at the push of a button. The really neat feature is that you can flip-flop timezones between the digital and analog displays by pushing two buttons at once. The analog hands will then magically rotate to display the new timezone. It's very fun to watch this.

Since the rotating bezel is not needed for timezones, Citizen decided to make it into a circular slide rule, including special markers for converting nautical miles to regular miles to kilometers, and converting liters, gallons, imperial gallons, fuel lbs, and oil lbs. You can use it to solve any arithmetic involving ratios, especially rate equations. At the turn of the bezel, you can determine that it will take just over 18 minutes to travel 3.5 nautical miles at 11.5 knots. (I'm a sailor, not a pilot).

The unfortunate thing is that a couple of times a year, the watch resets itself. I've never figured out why, but it keeps happening, usually at about six month intervals. When this occurs, the analog hands remain in their position, although the digital clock resets to midnight. This is good because the watch always resumes, and the analog hands continue to show the correct time, but the digital and analog become out of sync by an odd number of minutes. Correcting this is cumbersome.

On the whole, I think I would warn pilots against this watch, despite it's cool features, because of reliability. Murphy's Law would have the watch reset itself at precisely the wrong moment. But for non-pilots, its a fun toy.

-- Ben Ballard, February 18, 2002

Concealing the fact that you wear a Rolex or any other expensive mechanical watch is a lot easier than concealing an expensive and big Nikon F5 or even expensive and small Leica M6; just keep it under your shirt cuff. Or wear a shirt with an elastic cuff. Don't flash it in front of the chicks at the pilot's bar to impress them. As for failure, catastropic or otherwise, I worry more about a battery powered quartz watch. I've had them die while I was on vacation overseas, then you have to waste time buying another one. Or carry a spare. My mechanical watches are much more reliable. My personal experience with good mechanical watches (Omega, Panerai) is that they drift by at most 2-3 seconds per day. Sure, they should be serviced every 5 years or so, just like a professionally used camera.

-- Jay J. Pulli, March 20, 2002

"My mechanical watches are much more reliable. My personal experience with good mechanical watches (Omega, Panerai) is that they drift by at most 2-3 seconds per day."

I wouldn't call drifting 2-3 seconds per day 'reliable'. I guess it depends on your definition of the word.

In terms of general accuracy, quartz watches (ie. battery-powered) are much more accurate than any mechanical watch. Mechanical watch enthusiasts often compare the movements, the finishing, the level of adjustment, types of certifications, performance under different circumstances and other esoteric measures of mechanical timepieces.

Quartz watch enthusiasts compare... mostly accuracy measures. If accuracy is important to you, a quartz watch is the way to go.

If you want a really cool watch, check out the Omega Speedmaster Professional X-33 (with Quartz movement). "Designed in close collaboration with astronauts and professional pilots." from the Omega website

-- Tristan Tom, April 24, 2002

As a recently-minted private pilot, I have also searched far for an appropriate watch. Thanks much for the Seiko GMT tip! I found two reputable online dealers in Singapore, Sky Watches [horrid web design but excellent prices and service] and chronograph.com [easier to navigate and slightly higher prices], which sell a huge selection of discounted Seiko watches. I'd like to point out that Seiko actually makes about 10 models with the 24-hour hand, only one of which is distributed in the US. On both sites, the 24-hour watches are listed under the Seiko Perpetual Calendar group. My favorite, and the one I bought from Sky Watches, is the SLT047. It lacks the rotating bezel (which is only really necessary for showing a third time zone), but has a clean, high-contrast face, locking crown, antiglare sapphire crystal, and a lovely stainless steel case, all for about US$250. You can also buy it in a titanium version.

Thanks, Philip, for sharing your flying experiences. I too am seriously enjoying both my photography and aviation avocations.

-- C. Nolan Huizenga, April 24, 2002

Why all this talk about watches?

Let's see. One of my best friends is a military fighter pilot who, on the side, owns two highly sophisticated private planes. His watch is a Timex Ironman. His timer is a second Ironman with a broken band. Another friend of mine is an ATP who flies a P-51 for fun. Uses a cheap Casio. I have an ironman and keep a $5 timer in my flight bag.

That's all anyone needs. This talk of Rolexes and needing to have a watch that displays GMT is silly. You've got a watch on your wrist, you've probably got a clock on the dash and you've got a timer. If you're a gearhead, that's great -- but at least admit that you're a gearhead. This stuff is not necessary.

-- george day, May 2, 2002

Incidentally -- and now a positve comment from me -- the Lightspeed 25xl headset is an excellent choice. Runs around $500 or so (what I paid, anyway), batteries seem to last forever and it's quite comfy and effective.

-- george day, May 2, 2002

A Swiss-certified watch is certified accurate to within 4 seconds per day. Most quartz watches are accurate to within 15 seconds per month. Mechanical watches are pretty cool things to look at and can be very expensive.

But if you really want to keep accurate time, carry a quartz watch. Worried that the watch will die (which is pretty rare, a decent battery will last at least 4 years)? Carry a spare Timex watch on your other hand, it's only $50 or so. Really paranoid about time? Carry a stopwatch around your neck, that's three watches that would have to fail in order for you to lose track of time. Need to know GMT? Carry a Palm with a time zone program. Or simply memorize what the conversion factor is (e.g., +5 for the East Coast, non-DST).

-- Gus M, August 19, 2002

Much as I enjoy reading your comments and opinions, I really think you've lost it on the "watch" issue. If what you need to do is tell the time, the best thing to do is buy a $50 Casio. My G-Shock has worked flawlessly for 20 years, despite all kinds of abuse.

People don't buy a Rolex to tell the time - they buy it because it's a thing of beauty - both its obvious physical beauty, and its intrinsic beauty as a masterpiece of craftsmanship, the work of micro-mechanical expertise.

-- Jeremy Henderson, September 24, 2002

Mr. Greenspun,

Skip the Rolex, Breitling, and so forth. Get an E6B. A metal E6B.

Enjoy the sky.

Paul

-- William Fiefer, November 3, 2002

As a wrist watch collector ( and a private pilot ) I most humble contest those who say that a mechanical watch does not fill the bill for us - pilots! A very high quality mechanical watch ( with C.O.S.C. certificate ), can deliver a "knowing daily rate", capable of targeting the time within 2 to 3 seconds a month for those who indeed need such an acccurate time ?! Who need such ? Pilots or astronauts ? For those seeking for accuracy I recommend thermo compensated quartz watches such as Piquot Meridien wrist marine chronometer or one of those radio controled ( several brands ). Good fligths. Vanildo Maldi

-- Vanildo Maldi, January 4, 2003

My experience is that the accuracy of a number of mechanical (i.e., automatic) watch movements is very vulnerable to shock , arm motions, consistency of wearing,etc. Try this experiment: (a) set your automatic watch to the precise time using a shortwave radio or other precise time source (use the digital clock on a personal computer if need be). (b) do 10 minutes of some activity that involves physical motion of the arm wearing the watch ; e.g,. shadow boxing. (c) check your automatic watch against your precise time source about 6 hours later. I've seen an automatic using a common ETA movement gain 30 seconds from just a minute of arm motion. What's hilarious, in my opinion, is that these fragile automatic movements are dressed up in rugged, tank-like , oversized cases.

Even better test: Run a jackhammer for 10 minutes and compare the accuracy maintained by an automatic with the accuracy maintained by a $50 G-Shock from Walmart.

I think a lot of the accuracy claims for automatics come from office workers who don't do much physical activity, baby the automatic, place them in precise positions at night, keep them on rotating winders,etc.

-- Donald Williams, May 28, 2003

For a pilot's wrist watch, the most useful is the Suunto Altimeter watch. Loose your altimeter and you have one that stay's within 100 feet of indicated, (the diff is because the watch in inside your cabin vs. outside and there is a pressure differental). This of course is only if you have a non-pressurized airplane.

For headsets, I have owned Dave Clarks and recently the Lightspeed 20 3G ANR. Both are fine sets but not nearly as good as the DRE 6000's with the Oregon Aero kit. These are the quietest and most comfortable headset I have ever tried. I read a review on Aviation Consumer which rated them higher than all except the Bose for ANR but equal for comfort and decided to try them since my Lightspeeds where like nut crackers. They are super but add the Oregon Aero kit and you have unmatched comfort and a very quiet set. There is a new DRE headset out called the 6500 which is even further improved. They are little known but have quite a cult following and I can see why. Give them a try - you won't be dissapointed.

-- Chris Oliver, September 5, 2004

Folks, Regarding pilot watches, here's a better perspective than what PhilG has.

I am a newly minted pilot, and drifted across this during the quest for good recommendations for watches. I've been visiting Phil's site for many years now, but only now did I start finding his aviation section more interesting!

Check some of the classic posts http://www.watchuseek.com/pilotwatch/

There is a very nice set of postings that tracks classic 'aviation' watches!

-- Ano Nymous, October 16, 2004

You say Dahon is "poor function." I bought one for commuting. (If I am too tired, or drunk, or busy to ride home, I fold it up and throw it in a taxi) I find my Dahon Mu XL surprisingly good... The hub gear system is bombproof, the ride is stable and comfortable, and the fit-and-finish comparable to the average Trek MTB or whatever. My experience is that Dahon is quite a nice bike.

-- Michael Slater, July 4, 2007

Two years ago I bought for my wife and myself a "Riese and Mueller Birdy" folding bike which I regard as the best product on the market. In contrast to most of the other foldable products R&M bikes come with a full suspension which makes the ride much easier considering the small wheels those bikes normally feature. We tested the bikes extensively in Eastern Germany on "soviet-style" roads made up of deteriorating concrete blocks and they survived without problems.

I don't know whether the Birdy is available outside of Europe, but it's definitely worthwile to check out R&M's website (which I attach as URL).

And yes, the bike is not cheap...

-- Gerhard Wagner, July 8, 2007

On folding bikes... I gave up on my low-end Dahon. Too heavy, and still pretty big when folded. Tried Bromptons, but couldn't really justify the price of the high-spec one I wanted. And then I discovered Mezzo. Approx half the price of a decent Brompton, light as a feather, asymmetrically folds to a very small package, and handles like a dream. Also curiously fast. When you fold/unfold a Mezzo, you can see that they did an awful lot of 3D CAD work in the design of this machine. Everyone should have one. See www.mezzobikes.com

-- Dave Cliff, July 23, 2007

I guess the watch thing was bound to be a hot issue. I can only make the following recommendations:

1. The Seiko GMT is uglier than any Rolex, and I am a Seiko fan.

2. Try the Rolex GMT with black bezel. With the fixed bezel of the Explorer II, you lose the ability to time parking meters, etc. It sounds trite, but the bi-directional bezel is really useful, and a lot easier than monkeying with little buttons and modes on a G-shock. Invicta makes a great Explorer II homage for about $100.

3. If you also scuba dive, Omega has a Seamaster GMT that does everything a Rolex Submariner and GMT-Master can do, with a more rugged movement. Oh, and it's half the price.

4. Watches with slide rules on the bezel look cheesey, but they are quite useful in a pinch (if you lose your e6b or it's out in the airplane and your wrist is in ops).

5. Check out the Wenger Commando GMT. It features one of the most accurate quartz movements ever, with GMT functionality.

-- David Christian, August 29, 2007

OK guys, watches are like cars; There's not one that is "better" than the other. It all depends on the individual's needs and tastes. I will say one thing, and this is from an "old timer", not one of you young tech-guys of modern times: I was employed by Pan Am for 18 years and then spent my last 7 in AAL. IN those times airlines were not as cheap as today, and Pan Am used to issue us Captains a Rolex GMT Master. My GMT Master served me well, and I still wear it. It's almost 38 years old and still looks great! It does not have the precision of a digital watch, but then, who needs to be that precise? These modern-day "nuclear" watches are just an excuse for us jocks to show off our toys. Much like buying a Hummer to be seen driving around town or taking the wife to Publix.

-- Royce M, November 23, 2008

Do NOT try the Lightspeed Mach 1 in-the-ear headset. It's an extremely flawed headset. The earplugs don't seal very well, the ear clip on the mic-boom side is very insecure and doesn't hold the boom very securely, and the boom doesn't stay bent. The microphone is pathetic, and if you've got a vent open and there's any breeze in the cabin, the mic will pick it up. The wires are thin, like the ones on an ipod headset, and it gets tangled very easily. I bought one for my own use, but since I bought my avcomm the Lightspeed is only used by my passengers now.

Before I bought my own headset, I used whatever cheap headset the airport had available, mostly Avcomms. I bought an Avcomm AC454 for $175 dollars. I fly light sport aircraft, which aren't very loud, so PNR is just fine. The ear seals and head pad are comfortable, the size and mechanical pressures are comfortable, and I like the old fashioned wire mic boom better than the bendy straw type. I tend to use my headset with both the intercom and the headset volume set just above half, and I'm not worried about blowing out the speakers.

My personal requirements on watches are: Durable, waterproof enough to bathe with, Hour, Zulu hour, minute, second, backlight. An E6-B bezel would be nice. I tend to wear generic $7 watches from wal-mart, and if I do get a better pilot watch, I'll keep a cheap watch in my flight bag.

-- Adam Bowers, August 8, 2009

Aviation Watches?

Well, after some 25000 hours of flying, I would say that the most important thing is the time be accurate. And by accurate, I mean in an absolute sense, generally synchronized to one of the several HF radio time signals (ex: WWV or CHU), or to the GPS constellation.

For reference, I would direct those with more interest to the ICAO document NAT Doc 007, the North Atlantic Operations and Airspace Manual, section 8.2.2. The North Atlantic is still procedural controlled (ie non-radar), and relies on accurate time of position reports to establish aircraft separation, and so (in my mind), sets the standard for aviation timekeeping.

To conveniently accomplish this, I have relied for a number of years on Casio's excellent Waveceptor series of radio controlled watches. They set themselves to the atomic clock in Colorado (or Britain, Germany, China Japan) every night. They get my highest recommendation. Pick one that is easy to read, digital, while uglier is better than analog for precise reading. GMT or Zulu time is nice but not necessary.... I'll assume you'll know what the hour is. If you don't, I'm not sure a watch will help.. :-)

-- Rick Reed, December 26, 2015

• KoonySun Pro Pilot Watches- KoonySun/MicheSun Pro Pilot Watches is a brand name that has always been synonymous with innovation, quality & craftmanship on our aviation watches.   (contributed by Koony Sun)

• Riese and Mueller Birdy Foldable Bike- Website of Riese and Mueller. They are most famous for their "Birdy" foldable bike.   (contributed by Gerhard Wagner)

• New Folding Bikes- Find all brands of folding bicycles here at a great price via ebay auction, also feel free to read reviews of top models. Don't become a fat pilot get some compact wheels for your wings ;-)   (contributed by Chris Bruce)

• Custom Aircraft Models for your Tradeshow- Modelworks is a member of the AOPA ,NBAA and EAA. The only Artisan owned model builder with a focus on LARGE Custom Models for TRADESHOWS, Exhibits, Museums, and Building Displays.   (contributed by Herman Bongco)