I'm Finally Legal

I got a call today from my doctor who said that he finally got an OK from the FAA for my medical. I can legally fly now. The only down side to it is that my certificate is only good for one year. If you are over 40, your certificate should be good for 2 years. Because of my medical history, they want to watch me a lot closer. So I have to go the the neurologist for a consult next year and have another EEG done. The doctor said that the FAA will probably not put any restrictions on me after next year if everything turns out like it did this time (I don't see why it wouldn't. I've been seizure free for over 16 years.).

As soon as I got home, I got my log book and made my first medical entry into it. I really can't wait to see when the weather will turn good again so I can go back up before I have to go out of town again.

I also got another surprise today. I have been fighting a headset issue that I thought would be easy to fix. I got a headset from a friend who got it in a garage sale. A Dave Clark H10-76. I looked it up on their site and it said that it was a Military headset. OK? I knew it had the same plug on the end of it that helicopters use. I looked around to see if I could find an adapter for it and I went with the cheapest one I could find ($48 from Aircraft Spruce).

Since I don't keep a general aviation intercom system handy, I wasn't able to test it until I got to the plane. Of course I had problems with it. You know, Murphy. So I get home and start researching this headset. I didn't read very close but upon further review, it seems that the mic element can't have a DC bias voltage on it. If it does, it won't work. Guess what GA systems have in them? DC bias voltage. I was about to order a new mic element when I thought I should call Dave Clark and speak to someone in customer service who may know this thing a little better than me. I'm glad I did.

It seems that not only will the mic not work but there is an impedance mismatch in the earpieces too. They just happen to make an adapter that will fix everything for $126.75 plus shipping. I go to the website and try to order this thing and it won't let me order it. I have to call someone back at customer service and get them to enter it for me. I can't wait to get some extra cash and get me a new ANR headset. Unfortunately, that will cost me about $500 - $600.

I also updated my picture for the flying club website. I tried to find something that was so far away from what the other guys do for their pictures so I gave them this one.