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As a start to the New Year I thought that I'd do a little cleaning up and what better place to start then with my flight bag. Like any good bag mine has accumulated a host of items that really don't deserve to be in it plus it has lost a few essential items that used to always be there.
 Flight bags should be like a good friend, when you tap them on the shoulder at 4,500 feet heading into controlled airspace they magically produce the correct answers and a really good bag seems to weigh about the same as any of my friends. In fact, my bag normally sits in the seat behind and to the right of me so like a friend it takes up a passenger seat as well. All is good so far.
So what do I normally carry with me that causes me to watch the weight and not quite fill up the plane with avgas? Being in the computer industry I work under the assumption that all things electronic are designed to fail at a critical moment. From my years of experience I'm absolutely certain that electronic gizmos have built in "user stress meters" that determines when is the worst possible moment that they can fail.
So think of the worst time that your electronic gadgets can go on the fritz while flying an aircraft and you're getting to the right level of stress. Andy Grove, the famous founder of computer giant Intel said, "Only the paranoid survive..." and in the world of aviation that is only to true.
So when I'm faced with a wonderful glass cockpit I normally pretend that the screen has turned blue and inscribed with a message that has the words "failed" or "invalid" somewhere. Not to worry, in my trusty flight bag I have a spare GPS which can also give me a heading, speed and a host of other potentially life-saving measurements. Such as, warning, flying into a hill is ill advised.
The absolute best thing about my GPS is that it's mine and I know how to use it, unlike the different ones that I encounter in each hired aircraft. Confidence in how to use an instrument is always a good thing when the cockpit workload goes up.
Before we get too excited about GPS units let's just explore them for a minute and how our dependence upon them may be ill advised. GPS satellites are sitting out in space at about 26,600 kilometres and have been built by the lowest cost bidder. In fact, many of the components that make up your humble home computer are likely sitting in ones of these technological marvels.
A very important question is, "Would you trust your life to your PC?" If like me you have a love/hate relationship with your PC then your answer will be firmly I'm not trusting my life to any PC let alone the one sitting on my desk. Just ask yourself, when was the last time you shouted at your computer to behave (for me it was earlier today) and yet many pilots put their lives in the hands of their GPS. I've met pilots that seem to blindly trust these electronic wonders and have lost the art of navigating by dead reckoning. Bill Gates may be proud of you but the Wright Brothers are having a fit.
So when I reach back into my flight bag I can always find a multitude of maps, pencils, protractors, rulers and my flight computer (the one without the batteries). There's just something about looking at a map and fixing your position against a town that's next to a lake (hopefully not dried up) with a major road and train line that seems to set you at ease while navigating. I love my spare GPS but I only use GPS's to confirm the position that I already know not the other way around.
So which maps do I pack for a flight? Simply put, all of them. The WAC, VTC, VNC and the one off my flight planning software for every place I'm going to or could possibly divert to. When you're at 3,500 feet and having to divert to another airfield due to bad weather you don't want to be thinking, "Did I bring that map?" For the sake of a few ounces I pack them all.
Any maps and weather reports that I'm currently using sit tucked away in my A4 kneeboard. In the kneeboard (which is really a lap board) I also have my aircraft checklists, a set of standard radio calls for controlled airspace, my flight plan and a summary sheet with unit conversions, light signals, carby ice settings etc. I arrange the whole lot prior to any flight so that when I get in the aircraft my flight bag is ready with my kneeboard all in order.
Some of the other things I always carry is a full ERSA. Some people just like copying pages or relying on their iPhone to download pages but I'd hate to be them while having to do an emergency diversion. Me, I like having my ERSA sitting right next to me. ERSA's are only valid for a few months so I end up scribbling all over mine. In particular I draw the directions of the circuit for any destination on the little runway map which helps me visualize what's going on prior to getting there.
In the flight bag I also have my headset and inside the headset bag I have my license and medical. When I first started flying I quickly worked out that headphones are a vital link between the pilot and the rest of the world so I purchased a set of Bose with noise cancelling. Not only are they comfortable but they make listening to the chatter around Moorabbin airport a lot easier to understand. I'd highly recommend that saving money on headphones can potentially be the ultimate false economy.
I'll never forget my first flight in a light aircraft where I'd arranged for my wife and I to have a dinner flight around Melbourne for our anniversary. There was an odd number of people so the pilot asked if I would like to sit up the front with him. I stupidly jumped at the chance as my wife reminds me to this day that I abandoned her up the back of the plane on our anniversary.
So there I am sitting up the front completely oblivious to the steam coming out of my wife's ears up the back. I put the headset on to get the full experience and I hear the tower mumble something followed by the pilot respond something in the "affirmative". I had no idea what either party actually said. It was then that I noticed that he had the expensive headphones and I was listening through the equivalent of a set of tin cans. Lesson one, don't skimp on your headphones.
This brings me to my spare transceiver. If your radio dies then you can always overfly the airfield and wait for a light gun but reaching into my flight bag and pulling out the spare radio just gets rid of the stress. Being a private pilot removing stress is always a good thing and as a side benefit I regularly always pull the radio out and listen to the circuits from my home. Nothing like keeping the ear in tune to the chatter.
I always carry my visual flight rules guide. It's got to be the best book around. If you've forgotten what you have to do when you have an F18 fly along-side then look up the section under military airspace and you'll find your answer. I would recommend that in this case you do it quickly and definitely fly friendly. You may even consider having any passengers wave at your new wingman.
Speaking of passengers, unlike us pilots that have endured the rigours of steep turns, the joy of practicing stalls and the exhilaration of a forced landing, passengers sometimes feel the need to fully express themselves. By this I mean that unless you'd like your plane to be nicknamed the vomit comet and your cockpit smell likewise then carrying a few air sick bags can be your way of saying that you thought of your passengers prior to taking-off.
In a recent video I posted on downwind.com.au a passenger was depositing the their lunch into an air sick bag followed by the pilot doing some negative Gs. This really defeated the purpose of the bag other than to concentrate its contents into the passengers face. I think that maybe the pilot was getting the ultimate revenge.
If you're plane doesn't already carry them I'd also recommend a first aid kit, and some sort of mini tool kit or a leatherman wouldn't go astray. Under law you're obliged to carry a pilot operating handbook so I'd put that at number one on my checklist.
For example, I recently took a flight to Phillip Island and after having an enjoyable afternoon I found that I had a flat battery (caused by stupidity on my part I think). The pilot operating handbook was very useful in reminding me, one, where the battery was located in that plane and two what voltage it was. A helpful jump start got me on my way. Don't just think of the POH as a legal requirement but more like a bottle of water in the desert. You're always glad it's there.
I'm sure that I've left a few things off my list of flight bag "must haves" and that each one of us have found the need at times to add different items (eg. Emergency Locator Beacon, hammer to smash windows, knife etc). What I would like to know is what do you carry? Feel free to drop me a line on downwind.com.au and click on the "About downwind/contact us menu item" or you can participate in the forum topic that's already discussing this very issue. In the meantime, safe flying and remember that a lighter bag is not necessarily a safer flight.
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My (Brightline)Flight bag comes in at around 7kg,it lives between my legs,and can if needed slip under the seat.My Toilet/Sick kit 2kg,My not needed right away bag 11kg,my first aid kit 5kg.My tiedown kit (which has a 3kg mallet/hammer)5kg.The rest you can find on my posting (Survival kits).I work around carrying about the weight(30kg) of one passenger,in extra gear.As I fly aircraft that can accommodate the weight penalty,and due to the fact that most aircraft operate using less than their full seating capacity anyway,and remember all those performance figures that you refer to in the POH,are based on Max weight performance.