Prepping for the World Championships

Over the winter I modified my 4 Fight full face helmet by removing the existing finish (and scratches), filling in cracks and dents with bondo and adding new paint. 



How about that Killa Bee!



When I debuted it at the Rob Kells Memorial in May, one of the pilots stated that the mod probably negated the EN966 certification and that I would need a new helmet to fly in the worlds.  Rather than go through the hassle of having to buy a new helmet in Italy and then haul both of them home, I bought a new 4Fight LT Jet (half face) from Highland Aerosports.  The problem with a chinless helmet however is that the radio headset must have a flexible mic boom that is secured to the helmet and can be moved into position close to one's mouth.  I contacted Steve Prater (PTT) who builds all of my headsets hoping he had a flex boom however, his mics are only built for full face helmets.  He did mention that Ricker Goldsborough uses his equipment and had made a boom for his Jet helmet.  Ricker was very helpful and stepped me through what he did to make a reliable boom. I went to the hardware store, Staples and Walmart looking for a gooseneck tube similar to what is used on a flexible lamp that I could use as a boom.  I bought a lamp at Staples ($17), copper wire at the hardware store ($2) and found a flexible Onn mic stand at walmart ($8) that is used for a desk PC.  I ended up making two booms in case I needed a spare in Italy.  The first one uses copper wire, heat shrink and foam.

I ran a length of copper along the mic wire and covered both with two different sizes of heat shrink to keep the two firmly bonded together. I also cut a small piece of heat shrink that would just fit over the microphone and cut a hole in it to expose the mic then heated it until it was tightly bound.  Finally, I cut a piece of foam and attached it to the mic with a tywrap. Although functional and no doubt strong enough to withstand the normal abuse from a hang glider pilot, it is not as clean as the mic system I found at Walmart (I'm taking the lamp back to Staples).

I used the boom and the grooved disc that holds the boom in place. I cut the wires on the boom and hooked them up to my existing headset to ensure the mic would work with my system. It did so I cut off my old mic and soldered on the new one.  The disc has sticky tape on the back side so I stuck it into the back end compartment of the helmet.  I compressed the boom onto the disc and routed it between the shell and the compression foam then through a slit in the ear pad out to the front of the helmet.

I needed to test this configuration so I stuck it on my noggin and had Sue drive me down the highway at 25 mph (more like 40) while I stood through the sunroof keying the mike to check for wind noise. The tip of the mic has holes in it and is removable so to make sure there would be no problems when I was blasting toward goal, I added a small layer of foam over the mic and then snapped the cap back in place. I am now race ready!