According to studies by the FAA, hearing is second only to vision as a sensory mechanism to obtain critical information during the operation of an aircraft.

The first serious purchase a pilot makes while learning to fly is a headset. Of all the equipment used in aviation, the lowly headset is the most used item.

Pilots may not realize it, but aside from the instruments, the most utilized cockpit item is the headset.

By 2020, aircraft operating in airspace currently requiring a transponder must be equipped with a certified Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) Out transmitter, a key component of the FAA’s NextGen Air Transportation System.

It’s ironic that even in a multimillion-dollar aircraft, the ultimate cockpit situational awareness comes through a pair of headsets that can be anything from an $80 pair of eBay budget buys to $1,100 ANR big-namers.

Ah, the flight bag. What, in the air-mail days, was a lowly canvas sack into which was stuffed a bedraggled map, a candy bar and a dime for a phone call if the weather got bad has become a cockpit staple.

Not long ago, handheld devices for in-cockpit use broke down into neat categories: GPS moving-map units kept pilots from getting lost.

On a recent cross-country on a busy day in the skies above California, I got a firsthand look into the importance of a good headset, and how a headset that’s good in one airplane might be completely wrong in another.