Flight bag opinion

[FenderManDan]

Just curious what do you experienced folks use. I am a student and using just a standard issue FTU bag which I never need to open in local flights. Now in the near future when I start a XC flights I might need a frequent access to my navigation and other gizmos. Utility and ease of getting things out by feel I guess would be a primary need.

How about this: (prop shop at YKZ has it on special at $129 I believe)
http://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/ps ... ghtBag.php

If that is an overkill for the needs, since I rather spend money on training. how about something like this:
http://www.aircraftspruce.ca/catalog/ps ... ag_asa.php (these ones are around $60 ish). I can find a similar
multi pocket duffel/gym bag for around $12-15 in the luggage store.

Any other suggestion is appreciated.

Dan

[jump154]

For X-Country, I found my flight bag just sat on the back seat (or passenger seat). All the stuff I need for the X-Country I found I got out prior to flight - maps, E6B, CFS etc... too much work rummaging in the bag for something while flying. Get it all out, where you can reach it easily.

Now, the flight bag holds stuff to and from the airport, and snacks, rarely used/emergency stuff on the backseat (and pre flight stuff - POH, Calculator etc..). Gone from a big jeppesen bag I got cheap off ebay, to a small despatch bag. For almost all dual lessons flight bag lived in the corner of the briefing room at the airport!

As usual, all up to personal taste.

[goodflyer]

Dan,
I dont have it, but have seen it in use, and the first bag that you posted a link to is great!
Howerver I have flown for 5000 hours with just a back pak, but when this packs it in, I want the briteline one!
my 2 cents

[iflyforpie]

I've been flying for ten years and my original student flight bag is sitting in a drawer in my desk, untouched for nearly five years.

Flight bags are primarily for carrying stuff from your house to your car to the airport and then perhaps the plane. To keep yourself organized in flight, I would recommend getting a Jeppesen tri-fold knee board. That is usually the only thing I take in the plane with me anymore. It has my maps, a pad of paper, a couple pens, a compact E6B, extra batteries and cables for my headset, my license, and ..... that's it.

Add some blank nav logs for detailed planning and organization and I've got everything I need to plan a cross-country on the horizontal stabilizer at a remote airport (I've done it before and made an ETA +/- 2min 60 miles away without a GPS).

[Beefitarian]

I second the knee board concept. When ever I used to go places the bag was just to take all my stuff out of the plane to the hotel and back. You typically only need a couple of VNCs per leg, swap them out when you land, fuel up and plan the next leg. I do have a nice flight bag now with seperate compartments for head sets, charts etc. in the plane it gets to ride in the back baggage area unless I only have one passenger then it's belted in the back seat.

[kamikaze]

I'm a private pilot and owner, and I use this ASA Pilot Bag:

http://www.asa2fly.com/-Pilot-Bag--P680_product1.aspx

Carries my headset, Garmin GPS, headlamp, pens and pencils, knee board, CFS and charts, CX-2 (Electronic E-6B), logbook, handheld radio, and a few more trinkets.

All in a bag small enough to easily lug around and have up front in the cockpit with me.

[Doc]

I use a (very) small MEC back pack. I have the usual solid classy leather bag.....have never used it.
A bag is a bag. More important that you have a RayBan case on your belt, a huge watch with lots of buttons and dials, a knee board, and a spiffy green nylon, fake airforce jacket, so you look really cool in the bar/Starbucks.....
Do these jeans make my ass look big......

[FenderManDan]

.....More important that you have a RayBan case on your belt, a huge watch with lots of buttons and dials, a knee board, and a spiffy green nylon, fake airforce jacket, so you look really cool in the bar/Starbucks.....
Do these jeans make my ass look big......

That's it, but Doc that is so 80's, now days it's the POLICE (David Becham) sunglasses and the other fluff.
Ok, glad to hear it nobody cares for the bag. So the consensus is: to be prepared for the flight and the rest is a luggage. It's going to save me some coins too. I like this, less BS = more flying.

Thank you all

Dan

[Colonel Sanders]

You guys all have too much money.

When I'm on my motorcycle somewhere, and I need to buy something
that I can't carry on the inside/front of my jacket, I go to Walmart and
buy a backpack for $10 to carry the stuff home, and they're what I use
for my flight bags.

I toss the aircraft docs, pubs, headset, wallet, licence, sunglasses,
cellphone in it and off I go. The $10 backpacks have lots of pockets
for stuff. You even have room to carry a leatherman, a roll of electrical
tape, 10 feet of 32 thou lockwire and a few footlong zipties for a repair kit.

[Beefitarian]

Ok, glad to hear it nobody cares for the bag.

No, no, I really liked that fancy expensive bag with the video of the guy showing all the pockets and coloured zipper pulls. It would ride in the back with the extra stuff in it during flights but that doesn't make it less usefull for carrying and sorting out stuff. Yes, I could probably use a paper grocery bag but that fancy one is nice.

[FlyGy]

This is what I use....and it sits on the seat beside me or wedged between them in easy reach

http://www.cyberpilotshop.com/item90.htm

Like it's been said before, the bag is just to carry your stuff to/from the car. Rummaging through it to find something you need during a flight just distracts you from what you should be doing.

[. ._]

A $4.00 nylon crappy bag from the mall bag store got me through 3 years of Sault College. I'll be using it again when I get more into flying next year.

[KAG]

Go to staples and pick up a $50.00 catalog of case. That or as DOC said a back pack. You have other more important things to spend money on like RAY bans and a fancy watch

[Colonel Sanders]

spend money on ... a fancy watch

Never understood that either. I see someone with a
$10,000 Rolex, I see someone who likes to waste
his money.

If you have a cellphone, you don't need a watch. Heck,
my cellphone has a GPS in it, too.

The only time I wear a watch is when I'm flying across
the Gulf of Mexico. I spent a whole $30 on this:



NB above picture taken with my cellphone, too.

Take the $10k you were going to blow on a poser-boy watch
and buy a used literbike instead. Zero to 60 mph in 3 seconds,
quarter mile in 10 seconds, and 300 kph at the top end. And
you have lots of money left over to buy plenty of digital watches.

[Doc]

Be nice! My sister gave me the fancy Rolex as a gift.
Looking for a "Dora the Explorer" back pack for my headset, sunglasses, licence, bubble gum, mints, mini mag light, keys etc.
I find the very idea of a "knee board" repulsive! LOL!

[Adam Oke]

I rocked a backpack for over half a dozen years and it worked just fine. But I must say that I really like my brighline bag. It was designed very well. It is very handy when hopping from airport to airport/hotel to hotel or just a grab and go for a quick rip at the airport. Everything is contained in one small, compact bag and everything has a place. The great thing about it is that it can be broken down in half but still has the handy "file" type pockets no matter what configuration it is in. Generally when I go for a rip, the "headset" side has all the gear I pull out for preflight. The gear required is stowed (small clipboard with no straps, gps, headset, fuel sample, mag light, sunglasses, leatherman, water, etc.) and then the semi empty bag is stowed. The "headset side" also contains all the nav planning gear like rulers, protractors, calculators, and also my logbook. The "filing cabinet" side is sitting on or beside the seat. It keeps all those random papers, clip board, maps, pens, CFS, etc all contained and readily available. I gave up on the trifold kneeboard because I found it way too bulky for what I used it for (just a clipboard). Now I just use a small clipboard on the dash and everything else stowed on or beside the seat in the "file" side.

To each his/her own. I buy dollar store sunglasses and I have never worn a tie in a plane, but I think this flight bag is appropriate, and worth it to geek out on.