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Flying kit - the best and the worst bits

Right from initial training, you might have been advised or taken the initiative to buy all sorts of kit, which in hindsight may have the best or worst thing you could have done.

So, just out of interest, what's the worst and the best bits of kit you have bought, and was it your own decision our were you talked into it?

Likewise, what is the best and worst pieces of above you have been given (if not related to Mahjong a purchase)?

Forget kits. You'll always be spending more money than you need to. Buy every item individually, if and when you are sure you really want it. If you do decide to buy, buy secondhand whenever you can. Plenty of occasions. Spend the money saved on flying.

Above all, forget about "pilot's cases" - a PE bag from Tesco's will carry your stuff just as well, and if it begins to look/feel tired it can be replaced easily and cheaply. Forget about sunglasses, too, except upon medical advice.

EBZH Kiewit, Belgium

I was woo'ed by the flying suit, convincing myself that it had "airborne-useful pockets for pens" . . . I was dazzled by the marketing/concept.

I get looks of derision if I wear it, so it mostly sits in the wardrobe attracting guffaws of laughter from the wife whenever it sees the light of day.

I've only got myself to blame really . . .

EuropaBoy
EGBW

The most useless thing is the slide rule, surely... and they aren't exactly cheap

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

I still have my ex-military slide rule but it is really not much use for the speeds I fly! Except of course it was free.

UK, United Kingdom

Most useful for me is a pen holder (coiled spring type), permanently fixed just under the cockpit window, at arm's length - within easy reach.

I realise this will trigger protests from our paperless flyers, but for most of us it's fairly essential kit.

Why are they so rare?

Swanborough Farm (UK), Shoreham EGKA, Soysambu (Kenya), Kenya

Good morning!

Most useful by orders of magnitude: A good headset! Or several good headsets if you fly different kinds of aircraft.

Most useless: The "classic" pilot case. That's good for hauling Jeppesen binders (six of them in one go) and company documents on board of airliners, but for nothing else. What you really need is a softcase or backpack with lots of side pockets and zippers where most of the items are directly accessible from the outside without the need to rummage around endlessly.

All the rest is somewhere in between. Among the more useful items are handheld radios (I never fly without one as it has already brought me home twice - my homebase is an international airport - and I have no desire to be escorted by fighters), handheld GPS units (not really necessary in the age of smartphones and iPads) and torches/flashlights (but don't buy the insanely expensive ones from the pilot shops, on eBay they sell better ones at 1/3 of the price).

On the more useless side are sunglasses (I got expensive prescription sunglasses made many years ago that I wear for maybe an hour per year - and never inside the aircraft as it is very difficult to read the screens with sunglasses), navigation calculators (among other things I collect calculators - I have around 1000 now - and of course also nav. calcs., but it must be 20 years ago that I used one for flying) and, sorry to say that, "pilot watches".

Ah, I forgot one essential must-have item: The kneeboard! For IFR flying, an A4-sized clipboard that you can buy for 3 Euros/Pounds/Dollars from a stationary beats every special made pilot kneeboard. Gliders, microlights, open cockpit and aerobatics may have different needs though.

Happy landings Max

EDDS - Stuttgart

On the more useles side are sunglasses (I got expensive prescription sunglasses made many years ago that I wear for maybe an hour per year

I find that suprising. I fly with prescription sunglasses and wear them 100% when flying in daylight.

A4 kneeboard with a big clip along the top - definitely.

Good headsets - definitely. The Bose A20 is the best I have tried thus far, by a big margin.

The need for a bag etc to carry stuff in depends a lot on whether you are the sole pilot of your plane. One of the great benefits of sole ownership is that all the junk can be left in there. The only things I carry in/out are the printed "routepacks" and the LS800 tablet.

You sound like the bloke on Ebay to whom I sold an ancient Casio Basic-programmable calculator a couple of years ago I bought it for £250 in 1982. I have a Commodore 4190 here... used to work for them in 1971.

Administrator
Shoreham EGKA, United Kingdom

ou sound like the bloke on Ebay to whom I sold an ancient Casio Basic-programmable calculator a couple of years ago I bought it for £250 in 1982.

There are quite a few calculator collectors out there! With dedicated websites, meetings, conferences and even eBay has several categories for listing calculators. Prices have triplicated over the last ten years or so as it gets quite hard to find good pieces. Personally, I'm mostly interested in pre LCD calculators (1972 - 78 roughly) with luminous displays, so I probably wouldn't have paid more than 5 Euros for your Casio.

I have a Commodore 4190 here... used to work for them in 1971.

Commodore was one of the great pioneering companies in the calculator (and later personal computer) market. It must have been challenging to work for them in those days! They made one of the true must-haves for every (navigation) calculator collector, the Commodore N60. The "60" designation comes from the number of keys it has, truly awesome!

EDDS - Stuttgart

Can anyone exist without a Psion 3A? Although it's a pain having to buy another every month, as the hinges break off fairly regularly but for the cost of a single repair, one can buy another 4 on eBay.

Serious offers considered for 23 broken Psions, which I can't bring myself to throw away....

Swanborough Farm (UK), Shoreham EGKA, Soysambu (Kenya), Kenya
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