Kit opinions

Here are my verdicts on stuff that I have bought related to my flying training.

PPL Study Materials: AFE’s PPL Study Pack, including the Jeremy Pratt theory books

£195 for a comprehensive pack seems good value: the value of all items individually is around £300. The main component of the pack is, of course, the complete set of Jeremy Pratt textbooks. I reckon they’re good - comprehensive, readable and accessible. The PPL Questions and Answers book contains three mock exams for each subject, with full explanations of the answers too. The bag is nice too, well made and a very handy size. All good stuff.

Sunglasses: Oakley Crosshair (RX prescription)

The Crosshair has apparently been designed for competition shooting, but the characteristics making it good for that seem to make it ideal for flying too: top-notch optics, extremely large field of view, and arms that kink inwards flat against the head so they can be worn under ear protection or a headset. I got the plain grey lens, which at 18% transmission is a little lighter than most lenses but should give better acuity than 10% lenses (Oakley’s usual “Black Iridium”, “Fire Iridium” etc.). Flying with them, I’m extremely impressed: they are totally effective at preventing eye-strain from glare, yet never seem noticeably dark when passing into low light under a cloud. Colour discrimination is particularly good, and everything is pin-sharp. They cost £240 from Vision Express (delivery was a week and a half), which compared to prescription Serengetis at £400ish seems like very good value.

There’s a huge thread on the subject of sunglasses over on PPRuNe, which contains some thoroughly worthwhile reading. I have a mild prescription, originally for computer and reading use but it also improves my distance vision: my glasses are “recommended but not mandatory” for JAA Class 2.


Headset: Clarity Aloft

In another life, I was once a sound engineer for live music, and I was very impressed with the “in-ear monitors” - ultra-high-performance earphones, essentially - that live performers often use. They provide as much isolation from external sound as good earplugs while delivering pristine audio, yet are so light and small that they’re almost invisible. “Wouldn’t it be great to make an aviation headset using this principle?” I thought.

Well, someone has done it - enter Aloft Technologies. It’s a combination of a lightweight headband microphone (just like stage performers use) with extremely isolating earphones. There’s no active noise cancellation: all the attenuation comes from the clever foam-rubber widget that sits in the ear canal. It performs stunningly well: extremely clear sound, vastly-reduced ambient noise compared to the club’s old passive headsets, so comfortable that you forget you’re wearing it, and not slightly compromised by sunglasses. All for not much more than half the price of a Bose-X. What more is there to say?

GPS: Bendix-King AV8OR

See my in-depth pictorial guide here.

What else is there to say about it? It’s light and compact. It’s very, very easy to use, both on the ground and in flight. Very good screen visibility - at least as visible as analogue instruments when flying straight into the sun. Doesn’t crash. Flawless GPS reception, even without the external antenna. And for £415, it knocks Garmin’s puny efforts into a cocked hat. Bargain.