Whats in your bag

FlyBoyAndy

FlyBoyAndy

Pre-takeoff checklist
Joined
Apr 20, 2011
Messages
201
Location
Syracuse, NY
Display Name
Display name:
FlyBoyAndy
I went flying last week and my father (who is a long time pilot) asked me what I had in my flight bag because he doesn't carry one and sees me lugging it with me when I go flying. I think that is mostly because he leaves his "stuff" in his plane.

I didn't really answer him because the only items that I regularly use were my headset, knee board and log book with medical and pilot certificate and it's a good size bag. When I arrived home, I decided to look at what I did have in there. I had some very old charts, plotter, manual e6b, old FAR/AIM, old directory and some old flight plans. Most of this stuff has been in there for years because I have had this bag for many years and used during flight training.

Now that I am flying more than in the past, I'd like to replenish the necessary pilot material, so I thought I'd ask what you carry in your flight bag.
 
I own and hangar an aircraft, so I haven't so much as looked in my flight bag for years.
 
steingar said:
I own and hangar an aircraft, so I haven't so much as looked in my flight bag for years.
Click to expand...

I found mine when we moved to Texas. It had a sectional from the mid-90s in it, a clear plastic plotter that was heat-warped, and one of the carrying cases from a pair of Lightspeed 15s. :lol:
 
An Ipad and charger.
 
I fly alot of different rentals so a flight bag is a neccesity for me. When I was a student pilot, I used to carry one of those big Sportys pilot bags with lots of pockets and dividers and such that was a gift. It was really overkill and I eventually settled on a green military helmet bag for my everyday flight bag. In it, I have:

Headset
Logbook with medical cert
Jeppesen binder for SoCal
Kneeboard
Handheld radio
Portable timer
Spare yoke clip for approach charts
Garmin Aera 510 GPS
GATS jar
Gerber Multi-tool
Pocket size inspection mirror
Tire pressure gauge
Couple of small flashlights
Spare AA batteries for flashlights or radio
Pocket calculator
E6B
Los Angeles Sectional and San Diego TAC
Rag
Extra mechanical pencils and highlighters
Flight Gide pocket airport directory
Checklists for the planes I typically fly
Cliff Bar
Lanyard with airplane keys

To that I'll augment with additional charts/jepp binders for x-countries out of the local area
 
Pretty much all I carry around these days is a headset, iPad, and kneeboard. If the plane I'll be flying doesn't have GPS and XM weather, I bring along my Garmin Aera 510. You don't need much of a bag for that. I have other things I keep in my plane (like the stuff FT listed above), but that doesn't go with me into other planes.
 
Back when I was renting, I carried

Charts, pens, flashlights, headset, portable intercom, GPS, etc....

in my bag. A lot of that went away when I bought the plane and as Ron points out, even more when you get a hangar.

My bag has:

The iPad and it's assorted cables.
The charger for my iPhone.
The airplane keys and the gate card for the airport.
A pad of paper
Several pens
My spare set of glasses.
My macbook air and the CF programmer to update the GPS cards.

Just about everything else lives in the plane.
 
I rotate items in an out of the bag depending on the mission. As an aside, I do not use a special bag, but a bag that I bought years before starting piloting and use for general travel. But on longer flights, I have:

3 l jug of Arrowhead water - very sturdy
Empty 500 ml bottle with wide neck
500ml bottle of water (or two)
flashlight
knife
matches
space blanket, cup
warm clothes - depending on the weather
hat and gloves, socks
medkit
VXA-220 handheld, charged
kerchiefs - double as bandages
fuel sampler
eyeglasses
spare batteries for flashlighs (sadly, need both AAA and AA)
attenuated headlight - some of airplanes I fly have no cockpit lights
AV8OR - if I fly Cherokee or Cessna
DC headset
sectionals, including diversions off route
plotter
pencil and pen
kneeboard (I use Harper now)
spare 7-hole Jepp leafs log/plan
spare paper for kneeboard
Flight Guide - converted to FG religion from A/F-D
folder with checklists, temp conversion charts, insurance, other paperwork
C-172 manual - if I fly Cessna
notebook with a pocket for medical and certificate
E-6B and manual for it
manual for VX-220
logbook - if a flight with a CFI is intended
Clif Mojo bars

For W+B purposes, total weight is 27 lbs. I try to cut to bare minimum, e.g. I keep the charger for VX-220 at home always; unload water, radios, GPS, etc. for local training flights. Bare minimum weight for a local sightseeing flight over a populated area is 5 lbs.
 
Headphones
Radio
knee board
charts
checklist
emergency checklist
manual
glasses
flashlight
FAR (just to make my flight bag have a nice squared shape and not have everything pilled up in there)


The airplane already has a survival kit in the back, and I have the pen & knife in the pocket. My phone has an E6B, all AF/Ds in the US, all approach plates in US, and all charts in US. Plus the G1000 has all the approach plates and airport diagrams.
 
Last edited:
Headset, ipad, kneeboard, a few pens with scrap paper, and a flashlight. The iPad helps everything fit into a single headset bag which is convenient.

Can't forget the checkmate checklist!
 
Last edited:
Headset, iPad, maybe a paper checklist, logbook, Gats, Maryland By Air Passport (darn near blank in spite of the places I've visited- shame on me)
 
one .45 caliber automatic;

two boxes of ammunition;

four days concentrated emergency rations;

one drug issue containing: antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills;

one miniature combination Russian phrase book and bible;

one hundred dollars in rubles;

one hundred dollars in gold;

nine packs of chewing gum;

one issue of prophylactics;

three lipsticks;

three pair a nylon stockings.
 
Anthony said:
one .45 caliber automatic;

two boxes of ammunition;

four days concentrated emergency rations;

one drug issue containing: antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills;

one miniature combination Russian phrase book and bible;

one hundred dollars in rubles;

one hundred dollars in gold;

nine packs of chewing gum;

one issue of prophylactics;

three lipsticks;

three pair a nylon stockings.
Click to expand...
Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in DallasVegas with all that stuff.
 
Anthony said:
one .45 caliber automatic;

two boxes of ammunition;

four days concentrated emergency rations;

one drug issue containing: antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills;

one miniature combination Russian phrase book and bible;

one hundred dollars in rubles;
Click to expand...
Doesn't this overwhelm the W&B?
one hundred dollars in gold;
Click to expand...
Right now, that's a coin about the size of a dime. (1/10 oz)
nine packs of chewing gum;

one issue of prophylactics;

three lipsticks;

three pair a nylon stockings.
Click to expand...
And how fetching you must look in them, too!
 
Anthony said:
one .45 caliber automatic;

two boxes of ammunition;

four days concentrated emergency rations;

one drug issue containing: antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills;

one miniature combination Russian phrase book and bible;

one hundred dollars in rubles;

one hundred dollars in gold;

nine packs of chewing gum;

one issue of prophylactics;

three lipsticks;

three pair a nylon stockings.
Click to expand...

:rofl: :thumbsup:

No 50cal?
 
Whats in your bag + iPad question

Flying a tandem canard there is no room for excess so no bag and when flying cross country all the little stuff goes in a vest. Including a backup GPS! O2 bottle, hand-held backup radio, flashlight, emergency tool etc. are reachable in the plane.

I'd like to ask a question about the iPads - if not flying IFR, what uses have people found for them? Being space-limited I'm curious about their usefulness. They are definitely beautiful! Currently flying with G-396 and XM weather.
Thanks!
 
Re: Whats in your bag + iPad question

flyingriki said:
Flying a tandem canard there is no room for excess so no bag and when flying cross country all the little stuff goes in a vest. Including a backup GPS! O2 bottle, hand-held backup radio, flashlight, emergency tool etc. are reachable in the plane.

I'd like to ask a question about the iPads - if not flying IFR, what uses have people found for them? Being space-limited I'm curious about their usefulness. They are definitely beautiful! Currently flying with G-396 and XM weather.
Thanks!
Click to expand...

I don't have one but I seen people use them. They have airport diagrams, frequencys, and charts. Also you can write down stuff.

What I don't understand is why use them when you have a glass cockpit. I seen plenty of people flying with them while having a G1000, G1000 has all the stuff you need so why would you use the ipad?
 
Re: Whats in your bag + iPad question

MachFly said:
What I don't understand is why use them when you have a glass cockpit. I seen plenty of people flying with them while having a G1000, G1000 has all the stuff you need so why would you use the ipad?
Click to expand...
MFD's fail. OTOH, other than losing it out the door, paper doesn't. If you have glass, you really should have a back-up.
 
Re: Whats in your bag + iPad question

Ron Levy said:
MFD's fail. OTOH, other than losing it out the door, paper doesn't. If you have glass, you really should have a back-up.
Click to expand...

I don't know how much an ipad is but I bet it's not cheap, is that money really worth just for a backup? Paper is cheaper.
 
Headset, kneeboard, sectionals/TAC chart, AF/D, flashlights, pens, logbook, a few low enroute charts (out of date... haven't done any IFR XCs in a while!), 172RG and Seminole information manuals, and a CFI PTS.
I have the VFR flight bag from Sporty's, I got it about two and a half years ago and it's held up well, although I think it's time to downsize. There's a lot of unused space in that bag that I really don't need.
 
Head set
multiple flashlights
several AA batteries
plotter
sectionals
E6B
Kneeboard
several pens and Pencils
highliter
note pad
my weather watcher sunglasses
Garmin 296
small bag of trailmix
Whistle
vomit bags
AFD
Reading glasses
two of those glow light sticks

I find renters such as myself carry a lot more in their bag and much also depends on where in the country you live.
 
Flight bag? I think the only thing I use exclusively for flying that I own personally is a headset and I leave it in the airplane since these days I only fly one airplane.
 
Re: Whats in your bag + iPad question

MachFly said:
I don't know how much an ipad is but I bet it's not cheap, is that money really worth just for a backup? Paper is cheaper.
Click to expand...
Depends on what coverage you need. In my case, it pays back in two years.
 
Everything I don't want to lose or might need in a different airplane.

Small bag with Skypad, Aera 510, Bluetooth GPS and power cords, it fits in the main bag.

One or Two headsets
Knee Pad
Checklist
E6B
Power Inverter
Flashlights
Batteries
Writing Utensils
Aircraft Flight Log
Hand Held Radio
Misc 12/24 volt cables and splitters
Current Michigan Chart and Airport guide
Flight specific documents
Garmin 196 and Yoke mount

Skypad mounts on the yoke Aera in the Panel. Garmin is backup if the Skypad croaks.
 
When I rented I had:
Handheld radio
Pens/pencils
charts
headset
flashlights
batteries.

Now it lives in the pockets of my plane
 
I belong to a club, so I can't leave stuff in the plane(s). So I carry a Sporty's bag I've had since I started flying in 2000. I'm on the road, so this inventory is from memory...

2 headsets
SEA sectional and TAC
WAC for the northwest
Checklists for all three club planes
Medical
Spare flashlights and pens
Logbook (handy for recording flight details after landing before I forget to write them down)
Handheld radio w/ spare battery pack and headset adapter
Foggles
Approach plates for the northwest
Plotter
Compass
Emergency kit (really ought to be in my pocket with flying)
Spare glasses in hard case
Chart clip to mount approach plates on yoke (left one in a club plane once, never saw it again).
Stall horn tester for 172N
Fuel tester
barf bags (never had a passenger need one)
spare batteries for headsets
Keys to gates at home airport

I'm sure there are some other odds and ends, but that's what I can remember. Do I need it all for each flight? No. Do I use it all? Now and then. YMMV.

Oh, and I'd consider throwing in my .45 automatic and ammunition, but that bag is heavy enough without throwing in 'old slab sides'. :D
 
Last edited:
Ghery said:
Oh, and I'd consider throwing in my .45 automatic and ammunition, but that bag is heavy enough without throwing in 'old slab sides'. :D
Click to expand...

On longer trips I carry a pistol and even a folding .223 rifle. It's light and will feed/deffend me better than a sharp stick.
 
Flight Backpack (I ride a motorcycle sometimes) includes
-Lightspeed Zulu headset
-Lightspeed Zulu 2 headset
-iPad 2 w/ Foreflight
-Fuel Tester
-Smith & Wesson red/white LED Flashlight
-Washington DC sectional
-Washington DC TAC
-Handheld radio (Sporty's 200 version)
-A couple pens
-Log book
-Small digital camera
-Maui Jim sunglasses!

Can't wait for the weekend already!
 
Disclaimer - I own my plane and it stays in my rented hangar.

My Flight bag:
iPad2
Kneeboard
Charts
Big Flashlight for doing walkaround in dark
Little flashlight (blue LED) for use in plane if lights fail
Pen (x2), pencil and green highlighter
Logbook with medical cert tucked inside
Plotter
E6B
Solar powered calculator
Chewing gum
Lucky Flying Watch
Dramamine (for nervous pax only)
 
Flight Bag
Headset
iPad
kneeboard
Icom A5
Batteries
LED flashlight and head band LED light
extra pens and pencil
gum, sometimes a snack bar and water
last months Garmin update data card

In the plane:
back up charts
extra headset
large flashlight (great for a rear tie down marker light at night)
The Brides neck pillow
The Brides thermal blanket
window cleaner/detail spray for bugs
combo screwdriver/nut driver
gatts jar
shop towels and polish rags
 
Last edited:
Skylane81E said:
On longer trips I carry a pistol and even a folding .223 rifle. It's light and will feed/deffend me better than a sharp stick.
Click to expand...

Defend you from what?
Not being sarcastic, I'm curious.
 
Ron Levy said:
A .223 Remington/5.56 NATO will only make a bear angrier.
Click to expand...
Oh, please. SU-16 with a 20-rounder is way better than a 30-06 bolt-action in a self-defence situation against a bear, where you basically get one shot, maybe two. I will put that bear down with my 5.56 any time. It's not like I try not to bruise the meat.
 
Were I inclined to travel with both a handgun and a long gun, I would probably pack a pair that use the same ammo. The S&W M28 and Rossi 92 are both chambered for .357 Magnum. If I were going to be flying in Alaska or were otherwise concerned about bears, a very similar combination in .44 Mag would be just the thing. The lever action takes up a lot less room than an AR. Unless it's an AR-7, of course. Then it might even fit in a flight bag.
 
1 .45 automatic.
2 boxes of ammunition.
4 days' concentrated emergency rations.
1 drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills.
1 miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible.
100 dollars in rubles.
100 dollars in gold.
9 packs of chewing gum.
1 issue of prophylactics.
3 lipsticks.
3 pairs of nylon stockings.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top