Wherever you are, whatever you are doing -Season’s Greetings to ya.

This has gone largely unnoticed as it failed to make the news around the world. The hull burnt out completely.
The airport closure delayed our PVG-LHR service by an hour.

A Zimbabwe-registered cargo plane crashed when taking off at the Shanghai Pudong International Airport at 8:12am today, killing three foreign crew and injured four. The MD11 aircraft, heading to Kyrgyzstan, overshot the runway and burned when departing. The fire was put out at 9am.
Four crew aboard were rescued by 10:53am and three others were confirmed dead in the crash.

Two of the three runways at the Pudong Airport were closed after the accident. Some flights were delayed.

Read more: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sp/article/2009/200911/20091128/article_420993.htm#ixzz0YWz7CfTr

Before setting out on a review I think it’s important to define what I would consider to be the ‘Holy Grail’ qualities for a headset used within long haul operations. It is within this arena that any quirk, discomfort or flaw will be magnified by extended wear.

Whilst they have improved slowly over time (like the comfort of the seats be place our butt against for hours on end) the ubiquitous headset’s pace of development just hasn’t matched other areas where operator benefits are felt. Having had our heads squeezed and a groove progressively worn behind each ear by sunglasses has become irritatingly normal, so when I saw the tbone you can understand why I became a little excited.

I want a headset that is going to leave my head free to move unencumbered by cables that catch and tug on any obstruction in my vicinity. Bang & Olufsen sound quality would be great, the partial suppression of flight deck environmental noises would be another plus. The tones pushed out across the airwaves from my jet should be sent sharp and clear through my microphone so that every read-back digit is clearly understood by our friends on the ground. With that quality will come pleasing conversational exchanges in the cockpit as we while away the hours leaping continents and the odd ocean in a single bound.
I realise that this is asking a lot but to get it I am prepared to pay a premium price if I have to. When my evaluation tbone headset arrived I was delighted at the prospect of at last achieving audio bliss and cranial comfort. Did we achieve this lofty ambition?

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