![]() Another option is to use my set with the dual GA fitting, but my preferred method is to get my avionics guy to wire some power to that Lemo fitting. My ground circuit didn’t power the Lemo fitting so I needed to use my handheld microphone or the Tangos with the dual GA jack prior to startup.I often was reminded that the wire could slow me down if I was injured and trying to rotate out of my seat with broken ribs and thumbs in the 60 seconds I had before the plane would sink. Climbing over ferry tanks, supplemental oil systems, survival gear and a HF radio was a difficult thing to do, especially with the wired headset. Removing the wire from the equation would have been one less thing to get snagged on if I needed to ditch and get out of the plane quickly when I was in my immersion suit. The Tango wireless aviation headset is an ideal choice for pilots and passengers, whether it’s a friend who is riding in my copilot seat and wants to be able to go in back and spread out or is assisting me by pulling something out of a bag like food, a set of glasses or a jacket.Īs a circumnavigator of the planet with 53 countries under my belt I wish I had owned this headset earlier. The fit and finish of the headsets were perfect like all other Lightspeed Aviation products. It was very liberating to not be covered by the headset wire and worried about it buckling under my seat belt, snagging on the heater vent or feeling it go tight on my shoulder. I practiced that movement about 10 to 15 times until the novelty wore off and it became part of my emergency procedure mindset. My concerns about losing comms due to a battery failure were mitigated by three things: the 12-hour battery life, the base unit with the Lemo fitting removed the need for the base unit battery and most importantly, a wire that could, in just a second or two, be pulled from the base unit and plugged into the headset if I had a battery failure. It was the right combination of movement, freedom and communication quality. Given these choices of PFX, Tango with Lemo and Tango with dual GA plugs, I ended up flying with my Tangos to and from Arizona with the Lemo fitting. After about four tries with each one I would say, in my not-so-technical jargon, the Tangos were crisper but the PFXs were a hair more clear. How me?” My response was the same, “Loud and clear!” After I got tired of doing that several times, and it was clear we could hear each other I set out to figure out which headset I liked the best. Each time I was passed off to a new controller I asked with delight, “Control, N997MA, how do you read me?” And again to my delight, I always got back, “N997MA loud and clear. I was talking to the tower and controllers, playing music via satellite and Bluetooth and trying to figure out which was clearer, quieter and crisper. I had my trusted PFX headset on the copilot seated next to me and I kept going back and forth between the Tangos (with Lemo and dual GA fittings). I thought to myself, “Nice! That was really easy and fast!” Easy, right? It was so refreshing this time to be able to get up with my headset on, close the hatch, sit back down and buckle in with no hassle with wires. Normally my routine after completion of those tasks would be to take off my headsets, find a place to set them down, get up without stepping on them, walk or crawl over the wing spar and between the seats to the hatch, close it, work my way back to the pilot seat, sit down without sitting on the headset, buckle myself in and then put on my headset without getting tangled in my seat belts. On one particular hot day I had the hatch open, and I was speaking to ground control getting my IFR clearance. It was all I ever knew until my latest trip. What could be more important than hearing what other pilots, air traffic controllers and tower operators are saying? I definitely don’t want to miss a tip-off that I’m getting close to another plane, a restricted airspace or some embedded thunderstorm.Īt first the thought of not being tethered to my panel by an aviation umbilical cord seemed out of place. My plane, “Spirit of San Diego,” showcased aviation technology on my around-the-world flight less than a year ago so to introduce the latest in wireless headsets seemed a natural addition to my high-tech cockpit. Even though I still have a love affair going with my Lightspeed PFX headset, it made sense to give this latest technology a try. I had one with the Lemo fitting and another with the dual general aviation jacks. This past weekend I had the privilege to fly wearing my new Lightspeed Tango wireless aviation headset.
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