Clarity aloft in open cockpit

J

jesse

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jesse
Last fall my Flybaby was unexpectedly converted to open cockpit. It's starting to grow on me a little bit so I'm thinking about leaving it that way. My zulu seems to work pretty "OK" but sometimes the wind noise upsets the ANR and all kinds of noise is generated.

Thinking I might be better off with the Clarity Aloft. Anyone use them in an open cockpit before? Curious how well the mic works in the high wind noise environment.
 
I've considered Clarity Aloft for my Fly Baby. My only concern might be the tiny microphone/muff's ability to cancel noise from the drafts in the cockpit.

Currently use a Flightcom Denali ANL, which seems to work very well. Flew once with a Lightspeed, and got some weird warbling effects when I turned my head. Not a problem with my Denali; pretty happy with them in the open cockpit environment.

I've used in-the-ear plugs in my Fly Baby, and could actually turn the volume DOWN vs. my Denali ANL. How much of that was due to better attenuation vs. delivering the sound closer to my ear drum, I don't know.

I'm currently experimenting with a homebrew version of the Clarity Aloft, using a standard mike element and "Plugfones," an earplug built into a foam earplug. Haven't had too much luck with the Plugfones, yet, they tend to plug (VERY small opening) and the volume isn't there (I've got small ear canals, I think the speakers just don't get close enough).

I've got some ANL ear buds on the way, and will give those a try next.

Parts cost for my homebuilt headset is less than $100; it'll be closer to $140 with the ANL ear buds.

Ron Wanttaja
 
I fly a Pitts S1S with the canopy slid back all the time and a clarity aloft and its great.
 
From my experience ANR sucks in windy environments. I do a lot of aerial photography work out of the back of helicopters with doors removed, and my Zulu is terrible. It's worse than no noise reduction, and the first few flights I did with them, I had to power them off as the ANR's loud popping was unbearable. I've come to take my passive David Clarks on those flights, and leave my Zulu in the bag.
No feedback about Clarity though.
 
My experience isn't open cockpit, but in a rental Champ with crap-tons of cabin air leaks into the pilot's seating area. ANR mic was terrible. Clarity's were much better.

In general, I love my Clarity Alofts. Lightweight enough that I forget they're there.
 
I'd say use our EHN mic, but it won't work on those Clarity's. I guess we could modify the boom and mic for you, but that would void the warranty.

But, put ours Arcus on, with our Extreme High Noise mic and you'll never wear another headset in that baby.

Our ANR is internal, so it'll never fail like all the others do in the wind. That mic will sound like you're in padded room while you've got bugs in your face, just ask these lunatics!:
1016601_637304976291777_61395811_n.jpg


Hehe, that's for you Jay!
 
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jesse said:
Last fall my Flybaby was unexpectedly converted to open cockpit.
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That's a great opener, got more of the story?

I don't have any open cockpit experience with my QT Halo (in-ear type similar to Clarity Aloft), but I'll plug it anyway because I love it.
 
pericynthion said:
That's a great opener, got more of the story?

I don't have any open cockpit experience with my QT Halo (in-ear type similar to Clarity Aloft), but I'll plug it anyway because I love it.
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Latch failure, resulting in canopy departure, mostly because of my failure to properly secure all the latches. Lessons learned for sure.
 
jesse said:
Latch failure, resulting in canopy departure, mostly because of my failure to properly secure all the latches. Lessons learned for sure.
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Yow! Sorry to hear about that. Apparently, a lot of upward pressure on Fly Baby canopies; someone with a slider remarked how difficult it was to move in flight...probably due to lift/friction.

I'm assuming the "normal" turtledeck came with the sale, so you were able to restore the plane to normal appearance?
Michael_N48ML1.jpg


Ron Wanttaja
 
I've flown the clarity's a lot in the Pitts. They work very well. I have not used them in my flybaby but I'm sure they would do fine in it too.

Paul


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wanttaja said:
Yow! Sorry to hear about that. Apparently, a lot of upward pressure on Fly Baby canopies; someone with a slider remarked how difficult it was to move in flight...probably due to lift/friction.

I'm assuming the "normal" turtledeck came with the sale, so you were able to restore the plane to normal appearance?
Michael_N48ML1.jpg


Ron Wanttaja
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Yes no problem converting back to open cockpit and I had the turtle neck although it doesn't quite look as nice as it does in that picture. I was pretty lucky that the departing canopy didn't strike any part of the airframe and did no damage to anything other than itself. Even my Stratus 2 which was suction cup attached to the canopy survived the 300 ft fall onto pavement (amazing). Any clue when that picture was taken?

I could easily build a new canopy, and I started the process of doing that. I paused to wait for the weather to warm up so that I could glue things properly and the more I think about it the more I like the idea of leaving it open cockpit. The only real challenge at this point is figuring out how to make a good cockpit cover to keep the rain out if I have it tied down at a fly-in. Other than fly-ins I always have it in hangars.

For the record I would like to state that Matt's canopy design is indeed a good one and wasn't the fault of the design or the construction. It was my own stupid fault.
 
Where did you get your flybaby?


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jesse said:
Any clue when that picture was taken?
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Oldest file stamp I found was December 2007.

jesse said:
I could easily build a new canopy, and I started the process of doing that. I paused to wait for the weather to warm up so that I could glue things properly and the more I think about it the more I like the idea of leaving it open cockpit. The only real challenge at this point is figuring out how to make a good cockpit cover to keep the rain out if I have it tied down at a fly-in. Other than fly-ins I always have it in hangars.

For the record I would like to state that Matt's canopy design is indeed a good one and wasn't the fault of the design or the construction. It was my own stupid fault.
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I'm just glad it departed cleanly. One of the things I like about the Fly Baby is the minimum of "fiddle-able bits" that one can make an error with. No windows, no doors, baggage door has your back holding it shut, no parking brake, no trim, and, ideally, no electrics (but of course we both cheat on that one....).

I've got a cover for my airplane, and my situation is like yours...only need it when leaving the plane at Fly-Ins, which doesn't happen too often. I got it from a commercial vendor who was close enough that I could fly in for a measurement. Cost was about $200, but that was 15 years ago.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Another data point: I've used Halo's in a J3 with the doors/windows open (rear seat) and they worked well. Person in front seat commented on audio quality, too.
 
jhausch said:
Another data point: I've used Halo's in a J3 with the doors/windows open (rear seat) and they worked well. Person in front seat commented on audio quality, too.
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Halos would be a perfect solution, but they don't want you to wear a helmet over them. That's how I got started rolling my own.

Ron Wanttaja
 
Hey Ron, where did you get the flybaby? It looks familiar.

Paul


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PAustin said:
Hey Ron, where did you get the flybaby? It looks familiar.
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I bought mine in 1996; it had 100 hours on it (25 hours on a rebuilt C-85-12) and I am the fourth owner. Paid $10,000. Unusual for a Fly Baby, it has a full electrical system (though the lights aren't hooked up right now). Panel-mounted ICOM IC-A5 for the comm radio, Microair transponder, home-made ejection seat (a really slow one to help me get out of the cockpit with a bum knee).
moonr1.JPG

Ron Wanttaja
 
It's a funny feeling when something departs your aircraft unexpectedly.
 
Who is N48ML ?


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48ML was my plane Paul. Now belongs to Jesse in Lincoln. Too bad about the canopy but glad it wasn't worse!

That pic with the open canopy was taken the day I first saw the plane in Osage Iowa where it was built.

MM
 
Matt's canopy design has been duplicated on at least on other Fly Baby:

mason3.jpg

Ron Wanttaja
 
wanttaja said:
Matt's canopy design has been duplicated on at least on other Fly Baby:

mason3.jpg

Ron Wanttaja
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It's a good design, effective and easy to build. I may or may not build another one (already have built about half of a new one).
 
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