What is in your Trip Kit?

AggieMike88

AggieMike88

Touchdown! Greaser!
Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
20,805
Location
Denton, TX
Display Name
Display name:
The original "I don't know it all" of aviation.
When planning a longer XC flight, what information do you add to your "Trip Kit" (my name for items pulled from various sources to have with you as you fly). Especially if this is an airport that you have not been to yet.

While it is more and more common to have your tablet with you with your favorite EFB running (FF, WX, etc), I'm asking about theitems you might pull from the internet, print out, and add to your clip board.


For my VFR flight to San Angelo and Back tomorrow I'm bringing

  • Destination Airport information (the AOPA Kneeboard format) with important info (TPA, Freq's) highlighted. And I've added notes and land marks from my review of Google earth to help locate the airport
  • Flight/Nav Log for the trip KDTO => KSJT (fltpln.com)
  • Flight/Nav Log for the return trip (fltpln.com)
  • Google Earth view from 10-15 miles out showing what I should be seeing as I get close.
  • Hand written crib notes of various items from my flight planning. Including FBO information, and contact details of the person I'm meeting.
 
Which FBO on the airfield I want and where are they on the airport. Do they have their own freq? (you had that covered)

If towered field, where you are parking may make a difference on which runway you land on. (big airfield)

Fuel prices, self serve or from the truck make a difference on where to park.
 
Last edited:
Skyline's got cheaper fuel. Their crew car (Mercury van) pulls to the right a bit. Good service, would recommend.

To answer the original question - iPad with Foreflight or Garmin Pilot, backup on iPhone, ADS-B weather box of your choice and a notepad with a pen or two for IFR or VFR flight following.
 
Definitely Skyline. They are so very nice. Stayed open late one time when weather made me leave late. Like, they were about to walk out the door when I called from ADS, and they stayed til I got there. Plus, the wooden-truss hangar is really cool.

---

As for what I bring, for a new place, always have the kneeboard format from AOPA, with all frequencies highlighted (you'll understand when your eyes get older), and if I have any expectation of flying an approach, I print the likely plates.

After that, I'm covered, between an iPad, a 396 and a 430.
 
My clipboard has the AOPA kneeboard page for the destination and a NavLog, just like the OP. I will also use the blank space below the NavLog to write down clearances and frequencies I'm given. Printouts of a few approach plates are also in the clipboard. Paper charts, even if expired, are on hand as a backup in case the iPad battery is outlasted by the flight.
 
Primary charts on ipad, backup on the phone. Pen and paper for writing notes. That's about it.
 
AggieMike88 said:
When planning a longer XC flight, what information do you add to your "Trip Kit" (my name for items pulled from various sources to have with you as you fly). Especially if this is an airport that you have not been to yet.

While it is more and more common to have your tablet with you with your favorite EFB running (FF, WX, etc), I'm asking about theitems you might pull from the internet, print out, and add to your clip board.


For my VFR flight to San Angelo and Back tomorrow I'm bringing

  • Destination Airport information (the AOPA Kneeboard format) with important info (TPA, Freq's) highlighted. And I've added notes and land marks from my review of Google earth to help locate the airport
  • Flight/Nav Log for the trip KDTO => KSJT (fltpln.com)
  • Flight/Nav Log for the return trip (fltpln.com)
  • Google Earth view from 10-15 miles out showing what I should be seeing as I get close.
  • Hand written crib notes of various items from my flight planning. Including FBO information, and contact details of the person I'm meeting.
Click to expand...

Backpage...:D
 
Use the I pad with pencils and paper,have air nav loaded on the I phone also. Do a review of info on new airports before the flight.
 
Your first 3 bullets (including airport diagram and FBO data), appropriate sectionals, weather brief & notams, scratch pad, overhead marker pens for jotting notes on the windows (and a soft cloth & water for cleaning them off)
(crib notes are on the nav logs)
 
iPad with FF, iPhone for backup, pad and pen (usually use FF scratch pad instead though.)
 
iPad and iPhone with FF, post-it notepads and several pens.

Because of the amazing tools available nowadays, I probably spend more time on lodging and ground transportation logistics than I do on preflight weather and route planning.
 
I call and confirm the self serv is working if I'll be getting in late, maybe carry tiedown rope, funnel, extra quart of oil.
 
AggieMike88 said:
When planning a longer XC flight, what information do you add to your "Trip Kit" (my name for items pulled from various sources to have with you as you fly). Especially if this is an airport that you have not been to yet.

While it is more and more common to have your tablet with you with your favorite EFB running (FF, WX, etc), I'm asking about theitems you might pull from the internet, print out, and add to your clip board.
Click to expand...
Post-EFB, nothing else. Even such things as a FltPlan flight log and an airport diagram (where an FAA one doesn't already exist) showing the FBO location get put on the iPad or marked on the existing taxi diagram.

Pre-EFB, pretty much the same as you. But I didn't use a clipboard to collect the stuff; I used a 8.5X5.5 looseleaf binder with tabs for the phases of flight.
 
Nothing, I keep my iPad charged and updated along with my iPhone. I can easily go anywhere in the country with no notice and can "plan" everything and file in about a minute in the airport parking lot.

Technology is great, flying a lot helps, and the more you go to new places the less of a deal it is.

Most of my cross countries are with basically no notice. Often in the air within 30 minutes of finding out.
 
My flight bag includes a hand held GPS "anywhere map"; flash light; 5 pencils writing pad, knee board, gum, 2 water bottles or Gatorade bottles, sometimes some charts of destination airport on xcountry trips.

Most importantly my debit card in case I need to get a hotel or rent a car to return or finish my trip.
 
Primary: Nexus 7 with Garmin Pilot
Backup: printout of en route strip chart and approach plates
Logistics: printout of FBO and ground transport info; hotel reservation
 
i like to bring at least 5 pens. for some reason the 172 likes to eat my pens and im always dropping them during flight. i also like to bring water and usually study the taxi diagram the night before if im flying into an unfamiliar field. i never use my ipad during flight. i always like to have paper charts with me and prefer them over an ipad.
 
Nexus 7 with Garmin Pilot, some weather apps, FlyQ, some tunes, and a movie. Cellphone. Paper charts, E6B, CX-2, plotter and AC\DC\Solar charger. Pens, pencils, pad. Knives, protein bars, beef jerky, a bottle of water, lighters, a camera. On a really long trip over hostile terrain, a Garmin Nuvi programmed for pedestrian, direct route, and a bunch of airports. (try it, it works).
 
.45 caliber automatic, two boxes of ammunition, 4 days concentrated emergency rations, one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, sleeping pills tranquilizer pills, one 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 of nylons.

As Major Kong said: Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all of that
 
Nothing extra. I pick up weather enroute with Flight Watch if it's a long enough trip to warrant a rebrief and/or if conditions were forecast to change with any kind of pace.

The only thing I'll pre-brief is the name of the FBO if there are multiple FBO's to choose from, and I'll just remember it (nothing written). I don't write any freqs down because they can be pulled from the Garmin 430 and/or ForeFlight.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top