I upgraded from my ridiculously cheap and poorly performing Flightline
headset to a DC H20-10 in preparation for my IFR training. I haven't flown
with the DC's yet, but I will Saturday afternoon. My rationale here is
two-fold in that if I am in need of communicating, it would be a good thing
to not only have some equipment I can reliably communicate with, but to
initiate my IFR training at an airport that is controlled (KDWH) rather than
the admittedly fine uncontrolled airport I initially trained at (KCXO); the
choice of which will obviously requires a level of conversation surpassing
simply shooting the breeze.

The FBO where I bought the headset- Mercury Flight Systems- seems to have a
solid, while expensive, approach to the IFR experience. Rather than making
loads of short XC's, they seem to stress longer ones;
Houston-Memphis-Houston being one example. Obviously, there will be a lot
of shorter excursions in the curriculum, but I have to say that the idea of
flying under an instrument flight plan on major excursions is a challenging
surely and valuable experience. These people seem honestly concerned with
making me a proficient IFR pilot rather than simply preparing me for the
checkride, which is the general impression I got from the operation where I
obtained my initial certification. Any comments on this would be greatly
appreciated; being trained to pass the PTS is one thing, and thoroughly
understanding it is another, IMHO.

Apparently the training will be conducted in a C-172 upgraded to 180hp with
a CS prop; since I have some (short) time in a Super Decathlon this won't be
totally new to me. Instrument flying will be new, other than than my brief
exposure required by the Private program, and I am looking forward to it.
This is a challenge I really want to master, and any suggestions you all
might have as concerns beginning training would be greatly appreciated.

Wendy