In the early days before rental aircraft had intercoms, I would wear
(David Clark) hearing protectors for the flight and would still be able
to hear the instructor (who didn't have to scream any louder, since
background noise is attenuated along with his voice), and put a Lafyette
speaker in the earpiece (remember Lafyettes?). With an adaptor, I had
an instant half headset. It made a whole lot of difference (though I
still had to use the mike, that was no big deal)

I also had (inhereted) the most comfortable hood, made of a sheet of
plastic folded three ways and imprinted with the Jeppesen logo. Alas
that was stolen along with my logbook and flight stuff years ago. So I
made another out of shirt cardboard, and it is still the most
comfortable and effective hood I've ever worn. Total cost, about two cents.

The only disadvantage is that now that I have a real headset, I can't
just "slip it on" - I have to remove the headset first. (I don't
remember how I did it when I had the fake headset).

Jose
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