What’s in my flight bag

I love peeping in other’s flight bags, it’s like judging a person by their bookshelf. You can quickly size up a person by what’s on their shelf, or in this case if they are a thoughtful, pre-planned pilot. If their flight bag and its contents are a bit curious maybe they’re a motivated and thoughtful pilot?

My own flight bag has grown and shrunk many times. It’s grown ginormous after binging shows such as Survivor Man and then shrank to only a headset and documents. But I’d like to think that these days my bag is a product of thoughtful simplicity and preplanning. It’s an ongoing discipline and struggle to keep it simple and useful. It’s unfortunate we’re never taught during primary training what to consider and the purpose of a flight bag.

I won’t say much about the bag itself, I prefer tactical / military style bags for durability, cost and size flexibility. If I ever decide to “step up” to an aviation specific flight bag I would highly consider the Brightline bag for it’s purposeful modular durable design elements.

Maybe writing this will help you consider what to plan for your own flight bag. Here’s an ever evolving list of what’s currently in mine:

REQUIRED

• Pilot certificate and medical

• Snacks (energy bars)

• Multitool (Gerber recommended)

• Flashlight and or headlamp with red light

• External battery charger

• Headset & spare batteries

• Survival kit

• Pen, pencil, Apple pencil

• iPad (or EFB) and backup device

• Small notebook

• Water bottle

• Spot or other PLB

• Crema, Coffee Roasters instant coffee

• Mask (Covid)

• BlueSkyBos emergency window break hammer and seatbelt cutter tool

AS NEEDED

• Fuel tester & nitrile gloves (I love my MultiSump!)

• Kneepad

• Sunglasses (non-polarized)

• Handheld radio

• Sanitary wipes

• Napkins

• Pack of gum

• Winter gear

• Delay gear

• DC power adapter

• iPad/iPhone chargers

• Oximeter

• Failed instrument covers (not just for CFI’s! Stop looking inside, force yourself to look outside with these tools)

• Foggles (device designed to limit sight to only instruments for IFR learning)

• Smoke hood (this one might be my preference for risk / price / size)

• Zip ties / electrical tape (useful for so many things, you might be surprised!)

I’ve put this all in a handy, ready to print checklist here: Ben’s Ready for Anything Flight Bag Checklist. Print it and make it yours!

A little pre-planning can go a long way! The same is true for what you wear. We’ve only discussed what’s in your flight bag, but I might suggest as much thought should go into what you wear. Do you really want to be in polyester shorts and flip flops that both melt if there’s a cabin fire? That sounds like bad news bears.

So, what’d I get right, overlook or get wrong? Let me hear ya, leave a comment below!