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If you have ever flown into SFO, you know that they typically land on the west runways, Runway 28L and 28R, and launch aircraft off the north runways, 01L and 01R. You can see the airport diagram to the right.

So, I taxied the airplane onto the runway, we had a few minutes to sit while several aircraft landed on 28L and 28R. Then it happened…my wonderful Sennheiser HMEC-25 headset…DIED!

I couldn’t hear my first officer nor could I hear ATC, and my first officer couldn’t hear me either. I looked at her and said rather loudly that my headset was dead, then said, ”My Controls,” and she took the radios. I took my headset off, reached down and turned on my overhead speaker. ATC cleared us for takeoff and just then I realized how loud the CRJ200 really is.

Once we were at a safe altitude, I grabbed the spare headphones we keep on the flight deck for a jumpseater and plugged them in. Let me tell you, they are very, very uncomfortable and basically useless. Luckily, we only had a few more flights like that and then we were done for the week.

Then, as soon as I got home, I pulled out my reliable David Clark H10-13.4 headsets and threw them in my truck so I wouldn’t forget them when I headed to the airport for my next trip.

A headset failure had never happened to me though, but I kept my David Clark headsets just in case. If you read some of my previous blog entries, I’ve talked about both the super-reliable David Clark headsets and the wonderful Sennheiser headset that I wear. They are both great headseats but serve different needs. And unfortunately, since things break, I guess it was time for my Sennheiser headsets to break.

You can read the two headset articles here:

+ Sennheiser HMEC Headset Review

+ David Clark H10-13.4 Review

So, for the next couple weeks I wore my David Clark’s in the CRJ and they have been terrific. A little bulky since I am use to the light Sennheiser headsets and I missed the ANR capability, but at least I didn’t have to run out and buy a new pair of headsets.

Then I did a little research to find out who could fix my Senneheiser headsets.

I contacted a few companies but I really didn’t trust them and plus they were asking what I thought was a lot of money. Finally, I contacted Sennheiser USA (www.sennheiserusa.com). They offered to fix them for $99 which included shipping back to me.

Now, you might be thinking, $99 is expensive but I look at it like this. This headset, new, lists for about $700, and you can get a

REFURB: Sennheiser HMEC-25-KA ANR Headset here

for a lot less! But this is in in my mind an essential piece of equipment and I didn’t just want to trash them. So to me, this was an investment! 

Anyway, they have never given me any trouble and suddenly they broke. Considering I use them all the time, I like them, and they have been very faithful, I think $99 was more than a fair price to get them fixed and have them sent back to me. And the people at Sennheiser USA were very friendly and they did a great job of keeping me informed on the status of my Sennheiser headset repair. They let me know that it arrived, they promptly answered my email on the status of my headset, and they let me know when it had been shipped back to me. Try getting that kind of service anywhere else these days!

So anyway, here are a few observations about having had to wear my David Clark headsets again instead of my Sennheiser HMEC-25 headsets for awhile on the CRJ-200 and CRJ-700.

1. If you are looking for comfort, invest in a good headset like the Sennheiser HMEC-25 or Bose® X. Two terrific headsets. On several of my long flights, I felt like I was being tortured by the David Clark headset and it was not comfortable at all. I found that when wearing my sunglasses, flight deck noise was more present making it to hear more difficult.

2. Though my David Clark headset did the job fine, the audio quality was no where near the audio quality of the Sennheiser headset. You don’t realize how useful the ANR feature and overall quality of these headsets are until it is gone.

3. If space is an issue, go with a smaller headset. I had to rearrange my flight case to accomodate the bigger, bulkier David Clark headsets. Several headsets now fold up to reduce their footprint. With the contents of the flight bag growing instead of decreasing, a smaller headset is definitely a welcome item.

4. It is always good to have a spare set of headsets available if something should happen. Using the flight deck headsets, well, that just isn’t fun!

So I am glad to say that I have my Sennheiser headsets back and all is good.

To Your Flying Success…

Jeffrey

P.S. If you don’t want to get a David Clark or Sennheisier headset, you can really find a great deal on several headsets, one that will suit your needs, at MyPilotStore.com. When you get to the MyPilotStore.com website, just type ”REFURB” in the search box to get a list of all refurbished headsets. Refurbished headsets are going to be a lower price, sometimes half the price of new headsets.

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