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Two Air Force Officers’ real-life success stories- By Harv Laser
Maj. Robert Haston,
301st Rescue Chief of Training,
Patrick AFB Cocoa Beach.
At the time we spoke, Maj. Haston had clocked over 5200 hours in military helicopters, including $22 million Blackhawk H60s, and HH60s, and Pavehawks, a 22,000 pound chopper twice the weight of a Vietnam War-era “Huey.”
He’s been an instructor-pilot for years, with vast experience in training chopper crews in deep-penetration battlefield missions to pick up downed pilots, and medical evacuations.
His secondary bread and butter is involvement with NASA’s Shuttle program – mainly clearing boats out of the launch danger zone (usually encompassing an area of 16 x 70 miles) before launches and commanding the crews of multiple choppers for possible Shuttle rescue, should the need arise.
His job is basically training the Air Force version of the Navy Seals. Maj. Haston told me he’s always on the lookout for new gadgets and ways to do things, and almost every military squadron has someone like him.
Many years ago, Haston earned a degree in electronics, and found himself involved in issues regarding ear plugs, for hearing protection for military helicopter crews. “I literally stumbled across theBoom Web site”, he explained, “where I learned that UmeVoice had already gotten into the maintenance side.”
His crews often spend up to three hours in a single training exercise, performing such feats as hoisting people up and down into and out of salt water, and despite the harsh environment, he had NO failures with the Cobra mics. Thanks to UmeVoice’s technology, the Cobra mic eliminates need to press to talk on VOX (voice-activated) radios..
His training and in-service choppers are typically manned with a pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and gunner - a crew of four. The choppers are equipped with five different radios, and his crews must be able to clearly communicate with ground crews, other aircraft, wingmen, support aircraft, and refueling tankers.
Maj. Haston said helicopter air crew members are VERY finicky about the equipment they use.. in his words “you give them something new, and typically someone isn’t’ going to like it”, but in the case of UmeVoice’s Cobra mic, he had NO complaints from anyone at Patrick AFB who used them.
Haston told me he’s always on the lookout for interesting, new COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) solutions for communications.
He tested the UmeVoice Cobra noise-Canceling mic both in the choppers’ cockpit (front) and in the cabin (back), where it is noisier and MUCH windier when the side doors are open. Sound pressure levels inside these seriously mean machines can easily reach peaks up to 110db ambient levels during flight, while the mandated, legal day-long exposure limit is 88db. The standard crew equipment consists of a Gentex headset in a model HDU-56 helmet, with voice-activated radios. Haston replaced the stock headset mics with the UmeVoice Cobra mics, and was totally impressed with the increase in performance and “hearability”.
Haston continued: “We didn't use the bone conduction headset, but we have been using the Cobra mic exclusively since December, 2007. We have been very pleased with it. We didn't do any informal testing, but the difference (after we replaced the stock mics) was quite notable. When someone with the old style mic gets on board, you immediately notice the difference in noise level and accidental VOX triggers.
The main thing I noticed was that I used to have to put my VOX knob at the one o’clock position. Now I put it at 12 o'clock. Another benefit over two sided noise Canceling mics, is that when air from the vent blower or window strikes the mic, it’s much less likely to falsely trigger the VOX. It isn't often that something comes along and you get unanimous positive feedback. We make a great investment in rescue helicopters, so even the tiniest improvement is extremely valuable.
The Cobra microphone's noise reduction allowed me to increase the sensitivity knob on my voice activated intercom (VOX) a full clock position.
This all but eliminated the problem of having the VOX trigger accidentally. It also made the crew's speech distinctly moreintelligible. With a crew of four, and up to five radios going, good intercommunication is important in our mission.
This commercial off the shelf (COTS) replacement has been as reliable as the old microphones, including repeated exposure to salt spray.”
Haston has been using the Cobra mic since 2006, and said he had over 70 of them in use, constantly exposed to salt spray, with absolutely no degradation in the mics’ performance. Now THAT’S a solid recommendation from a true pro, a man with VAST knowledge in his field of expertise, and a true gentleman and patriot.
Robert Haston has over 27 years military experience with the Army and Air Force, 24 of those in the cockpit. He has logged over 5,400 hours of flight time, most in rescue helicopters, with 200 hours in fixed wing jet trainers.
He has received awards for rescue work in hurricanes Andrew, Floyd, and Katrina. His technical achievements include designing the SITREP software interface for the US and NATO's premier survival radio the PRC-112G, with over 23,000 radios in service. He has regularly deployed to fly in the Southwest Asia Theater since the early 90's and is currently deployed to Kandahar Afghanistan.
301st Rescue Chief of Training,
Patrick AFB Cocoa Beach.
At the time we spoke, Maj. Haston had clocked over 5200 hours in military helicopters, including $22 million Blackhawk H60s, and HH60s, and Pavehawks, a 22,000 pound chopper twice the weight of a Vietnam War-era “Huey.”
He’s been an instructor-pilot for years, with vast experience in training chopper crews in deep-penetration battlefield missions to pick up downed pilots, and medical evacuations.
His secondary bread and butter is involvement with NASA’s Shuttle program – mainly clearing boats out of the launch danger zone (usually encompassing an area of 16 x 70 miles) before launches and commanding the crews of multiple choppers for possible Shuttle rescue, should the need arise.
His job is basically training the Air Force version of the Navy Seals. Maj. Haston told me he’s always on the lookout for new gadgets and ways to do things, and almost every military squadron has someone like him.
Many years ago, Haston earned a degree in electronics, and found himself involved in issues regarding ear plugs, for hearing protection for military helicopter crews. “I literally stumbled across theBoom Web site”, he explained, “where I learned that UmeVoice had already gotten into the maintenance side.”
His crews often spend up to three hours in a single training exercise, performing such feats as hoisting people up and down into and out of salt water, and despite the harsh environment, he had NO failures with the Cobra mics. Thanks to UmeVoice’s technology, the Cobra mic eliminates need to press to talk on VOX (voice-activated) radios..
His training and in-service choppers are typically manned with a pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and gunner - a crew of four. The choppers are equipped with five different radios, and his crews must be able to clearly communicate with ground crews, other aircraft, wingmen, support aircraft, and refueling tankers.
Maj. Haston said helicopter air crew members are VERY finicky about the equipment they use.. in his words “you give them something new, and typically someone isn’t’ going to like it”, but in the case of UmeVoice’s Cobra mic, he had NO complaints from anyone at Patrick AFB who used them.
Haston told me he’s always on the lookout for interesting, new COTS (commercial off-the-shelf) solutions for communications.
He tested the UmeVoice Cobra noise-Canceling mic both in the choppers’ cockpit (front) and in the cabin (back), where it is noisier and MUCH windier when the side doors are open. Sound pressure levels inside these seriously mean machines can easily reach peaks up to 110db ambient levels during flight, while the mandated, legal day-long exposure limit is 88db. The standard crew equipment consists of a Gentex headset in a model HDU-56 helmet, with voice-activated radios. Haston replaced the stock headset mics with the UmeVoice Cobra mics, and was totally impressed with the increase in performance and “hearability”.
Haston continued: “We didn't use the bone conduction headset, but we have been using the Cobra mic exclusively since December, 2007. We have been very pleased with it. We didn't do any informal testing, but the difference (after we replaced the stock mics) was quite notable. When someone with the old style mic gets on board, you immediately notice the difference in noise level and accidental VOX triggers.
The main thing I noticed was that I used to have to put my VOX knob at the one o’clock position. Now I put it at 12 o'clock. Another benefit over two sided noise Canceling mics, is that when air from the vent blower or window strikes the mic, it’s much less likely to falsely trigger the VOX. It isn't often that something comes along and you get unanimous positive feedback. We make a great investment in rescue helicopters, so even the tiniest improvement is extremely valuable.
The Cobra microphone's noise reduction allowed me to increase the sensitivity knob on my voice activated intercom (VOX) a full clock position.
This all but eliminated the problem of having the VOX trigger accidentally. It also made the crew's speech distinctly moreintelligible. With a crew of four, and up to five radios going, good intercommunication is important in our mission.
This commercial off the shelf (COTS) replacement has been as reliable as the old microphones, including repeated exposure to salt spray.”
Haston has been using the Cobra mic since 2006, and said he had over 70 of them in use, constantly exposed to salt spray, with absolutely no degradation in the mics’ performance. Now THAT’S a solid recommendation from a true pro, a man with VAST knowledge in his field of expertise, and a true gentleman and patriot.
Robert Haston has over 27 years military experience with the Army and Air Force, 24 of those in the cockpit. He has logged over 5,400 hours of flight time, most in rescue helicopters, with 200 hours in fixed wing jet trainers.
He has received awards for rescue work in hurricanes Andrew, Floyd, and Katrina. His technical achievements include designing the SITREP software interface for the US and NATO's premier survival radio the PRC-112G, with over 23,000 radios in service. He has regularly deployed to fly in the Southwest Asia Theater since the early 90's and is currently deployed to Kandahar Afghanistan.
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©1995-2009 UmeVoice, Inc. All rights reserved.