Flying: The Gear

Anyone who knows me well knows that I love gear. For all my various hobbies (Exercise, Cooking, Computers/Programming), I obsessively research the right gear to have. Sometimes I do this for hobbies that don’t stick around (I thought I was going to be the next Norm Abram, and bought some nice woodworking tools before reality set in). I find it important to have the right tools for the job, probably to a fault. Some of the stuff that I’ve purchased has had a long life and I use it all the time. Some has been tossed aside.

When I decided to take up flying, I wanted to know right away what gear would be required. This post is all about what I got, why I got it, and if I evaluated anything else.

• iPad - In the olden days, a pilot would have a significant amount of paper-based information. The AF/D (Airport Facility Directory) tells you about individual airports, sectional charts give you a significant amount of detail about the areas you fly in, etc. The problems are many, but primarily: 1) the information gets stale quickly, 2) all that paper is heavy, and 3) it’s 2017. The strong recommendation from Grant and many others suggests an iPad with ForeFlight. I got the 10” iPad Pro, along with the keyboard (~$1000) and a 1-year subscription to ForeFlight ($99). What’s interesting, now that I have it, is how often I just pull up ForeFlight to look at weather, or when I’m flying commercially, I use it to follow along our airplane’s route to the runway.
• Live ATC - One of the most intimidating things to learn is how to talk to air-traffic control (ATC). LiveATC is an app that allows you to listen into ATC at many different airports. I’ve been using it while driving in the car to practice, but also, while flying commercially, along with ForeFlight as mentioned above, to understand what’s happening. $4.
• Headset - This is a fundamental question for many pilots. Many folks go for the top-of-the-line Bose A20. That’s pretty steep at over $1000. I did a bit of research and ended up with the Faro Stealth for $400. It has noise-cancelling, and will get the job done. It’s not particularly comfortable, though. As a graduation present, once I get my cert, I may buy myself something nicer, and then I’ll have a back-up set. If you’re committed to being a pilot for the long term, buy yourself something better than what I did. If you don’t know for sure (and that’s where I am), get something cheaper.
• Knee-board - Nothing major here, but you need something to hold your checklist, along with a piece of paper to take notes, specifically from ATIS. I went with this guy for $28, and it’s been fine. The one debate I had was whether I wanted a kneeboard that could hold the iPad. I’m going low-fi for now.
• E6B - The E6B is a flight computer. There are a bunch of calculations you need to make in flight planning, like wind correction angles, fuel burn, calculating density altitude. All of these skills need to be demonstrated in your written exams and your practical. There are 3 options here: slide rule, digital computer, or app on an iDevice. The apps can’t be used in your tests, so I ruled that out right away. I’m not sure how often I’m going to be using one, so I decided to get the old-school slide rule. Learning how to use it will be cool, and it’s metal, so it seems indestructible. $20. I’m not sure how much I’ll be doing this manually once I’m finished my training. ForeFlight can do most of it for you.
• Flight Bag - I’ll be honest, I probably got the wrong thing here. You need a bag to hold your gear. The core stuff is your iPad, your kneeboard, headset, and some ancilliary stuff. The bag I got was much too big. I can probably use this as an overnight bag when the time comes, so it’s not a complete waste, but at $90, it was overkill. I see lots of folks around the flight school with just simple backpacks.
• Ground School - There’s a couple different systems out there for training. I wound up going with Sporty’s Online Ground School, specifically the iPad version. It’s not what my flight school recommends (Jeppesen), but it had a huge advantage: I could download all the content to my iPad. This has been great, since I’ve done almost all of my studying in airports and airplanes while flying commercial. It’s just so happened that I’ve had to take a bunch of trips for both business and personal over the last couple months. Being able to study without being connected has been a big advantage.
• Books - Ah, books. I love books. There are two core ones you can’t be without: The Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge aka the “PHAK” (pronounced “Pee-Hack”) and The Airplane Flying Handbook. Both of these are offered by the FAA and are indispensible. They’re available as free downloads from the FAA, but I bought paper copies of both from Amazon. I’ve read them both cover to cover and still study both of them on a daily basis. The FAR/AIM is another important book I bought, but that was probably dumb. The FAR part is the Federal Aviation Regulations, and the AIM is the Aeronautical Information Manual. Pretty important stuff in these, and you get tested on it, but it’s super dense. The ASA’s FAR/AIM app is much more usable. The Killing Zone: How and Why Pilot’s Die was recommended. I did read it, and I got some great info from it, but it was intimidating. The primary story here is that when you don’t really know what you’re doing, you’re more likely to die. This book enumerates all the ways that’s possible.
• Flight Simulator - This is not necessary, and some schools might tell you they really don’t want you using one, but I’ve found it useful and fun. I bought X-Plane for my Mac (via Steam, $60). I also went and bought a Yoke for $199 and Rudder pedals for $169. While the feel is completely wrong, it has helped me understand flying much better. I find myself doing a lesson, then coming home and flying it again via the simulator. X-Plane has a Cessna 172 that is correctly modeled, the only difference being the one in X-Plane uses steam gauges instead of the glass cockpit.
• Sunglasses - It gets pretty bright up there, so having a decent set is important. I may not be an Aviator yet, but I play at being one now. So I had to have a proper set of Aviators. I bought a pair of Oakley Elmonts for $170.

I know this is a lot of stuff. Flying isn’t a cheap hobby, that’s for sure. If anyone out there is reading this and has advice on either where I went wrong or something big I’m missing, I’d love to hear about it.