What was life like for the learning recreational pilot before aviation headsets became affordable (these cost about $150 on average now)? Well, trainee pilots would tape a microphone to their cheek to be heard, and they would scream to their instructors over all the engine noise so that they could hear them. Well happily, those days are long gone now. For one thing, aircraft are manufactured to be somewhat quieter these days. And then of course, we have high-tech headsets that are affordable to everyone. Let’s take a look at two popular Sennheiser aviation headset models now.
Aviation headsets need to be designed to keep out a massive amount of noise. Even modern jet planes can be very noisy for pilots trying to talk to air traffic control or other crew members. The noise level in the pilot’s cockpit always tends to be higher than what one experiences in the passenger area, too. The cockpit is in the front of the plane – the gale-force winds blowing outside blow directly on the windscreen. In the passenger compartment on the other hand, the air isn’t directly beating against the windows.
Aviation headsets are always large and bulky so that they can provide a wearer with large and effective insulation padding. They usually use gel ear cups and a strong steel headband to keep the ear cans tightly clamped to the head. That’s passive noise reduction. There’s active noise reduction in addition to this used on modern headsets too – of the kind made popular by Bose Quiet Comfort models for passengers.
Basically, when you buy an aviation headset, you need to look for a pair that isn’t over-tight on your head, that it has independent volume controls on each can, that it has a nice maneuverable headphone boom, and real performance – and that it really does make you audible even in a high-noise environment.
Let’s start with our first Sennheiser aviation headset – the HEMC 300. The first thing you’re going to notice about this set is that it works far better than the expensive Bose X system. The active noise reduction employed seems far more effective. If you happen to be sensitive to pressure on your years though, these are certainly not for you. If you really love the noise reduction technology used but you can’t stand the pressure, you could take things into your own hands and loosen the headset up by buying a new pair, and then bending them apart as far as they will go and leaving them that way for about three days. That should loosen them up.
The HEMC 300 has a great feature to power the active noise reduction technology built in with. It powers itself right through the headphone connection. You don’t need a battery pack or anything. Sennheiser is the only manufacturer ever to do this. But you do need to have a compatible aircraft.
If you really love the effectiveness of Sennheiser aviation headset models but don’t want to mess with something like the HEMC 300 that you could probably use as a vice if you weren’t using it as a headset, the Sennheiser HEMC 400 is just the right thing for you. The noise cancellation isn’t that great on this pair, but it’s wearable.
