The importance of having a clean cockpit...
This is an e-mail to TC for today's incident
I wasn't the instructor on this flight
Dear ****,
I believe we are in for another CADORS as C **** came back Nordo...
I went out and checked the radio myself and I could not find any problem.
The mechanic is checking the system too and it will be certified in the journey logbook.
I looked at the hand mike, it is by the pilot's left leg.
I asked the student whether he used a kneeboard... He does, it's the trifold type kneeboard ($75).
I do not recommend that any pilot use a kneeboard in an aeroplane with a joystick.
Opened up and with so much junk in it, in my opinion the kneeboard's flap was against the transmit switch on the hand mike!
We are pulling the handmike jack out of the panel and placing it in the left side pocket.
If necessary the hand mike can be plugged back in at any time.
I use a hardboard clipboard bought from the dollar store ($1) and I put it besides me when I don't (k)need it...
Such are the problems with students and their clobber in the cockpits of little training aeroplanes.
I my self do have a three fold one for instructing, but it does tend to keep all your stuff organized, however I don't think I have ever strapped it to a knee. I find in a 172 it works great if you when you do not need it you reach behind you and put in the opposite seat's back pack pocket. It is secure in there and I have never had a problem with it coming out during turbulence or maneuvers like a spin.
I remember my first x-country flight with my instructor. Once we were set up, en-route, etc, as I was fumbling with my kneeboard trying to make calculations for going to Nanaimo(which we could practically see, far off in the distance) he reached over, grabbed the kneeboard & threw it into the back of the airplane & said "okay lets go to Nanaimo!!"
The $1 clipboard works nicely if you need one at all. I can't recall ever seeing
an operational commercial pilot wearing a kneeboard, but I'm sure they're out there...
I like my tri-fold kneeboard (the smaller kind), I use it just how it's designed, strapped to the leg, I don't keep much stuff in it (map on the lap, etc) but I like to have the pad of paper right there incase I want to copy something down (times/atis/clearance etc.). It never gets in the way as long as you don't keep it overstuffed. Certainly you'd never want to use your E6-B while it was locked in there, but for instructing, which I do, it works great.
Another cockpit organization tip that I like, is in a 172 put your map nicely folded up and ready to go in the shoulder belt holder above your head. Keeps it right there when you need it.
I've done that before in the Diamond...something sounds different while you're talking to the other guy, and you quickly notice the 'Tx' on the radio, and that everybody else just listened to you troubleshoot the issue. Oh well.
I used the same tri-fold kneeboard, but I found that If I kept it open, but folded up (if that makes sense), I would pull it out to use it, and when I was done, I would put it back on the arm rest, between my left arm and the side of the cockpit. Moving into a 172, my crap is all over the place, and I couldn't stay organized to save my life.
I'm interested in reducing clobber...
There was another string on another forum about kneeboards.
I see all sorts of stuff laid out in the laps of students and I wonder about the safety of this when something goes wrong or in an accident.
Personally, like every other student I bought a kneeboard, but it wasn't a huge cumbersome trifold kneeboard that took a lot of money out of my flying budget...
I'm happiest with my $1 clipboard and a $1 note pad and many of my students take these items on as well.
You can stow the clipboard easily and the note pad is great for putting information down in the order you need it.
Times, aircraft speeds, and flight plans to your own design are easily written on a blank page.
If I'm on a cross country I write one or two legs on my pad at a time, I only need to see the information I need right now, it doesn't need to be mixed up with what has passed behind me, nor what I will need minutes or hours from now.
If pilots were still taught to fly in Chipmunks they would be familiar with ingenious ways in which to store their clobber, to be able to make the cockpit an efficient office within which to conduct a flight.
When I started training I bought the usual tri-fold kneeboard, and I'm still using it, but it hasn't been strapped to my leg in ages. I fold it back on itself (with a VNC folded up in the centre), which basically gives me a clipboard with pockets for the stuff I always have with me - instrument covers, spare batteries, etc. When I'm not going to need it, into the side pocket or student's seatback it goes.
