Gear for the Mission

Student Pilot

November 1, 2016 By Alton K. Marsh

Casey Jung, 18, graduated from high school this year with 50 hours of flight training, all ready for the private pilot practical test. She hopes to get an instrument rating once she reports to Virginia Tech—on a full scholarship. That will free up funds saved for college that can be put into the instrument rating.

Casey carries a David Clark H10-13.4 headset (www.davidclarkcompany.com), $300 and uses a Boeing Stow Bag (www.sportys.com/pilotshop/boeing-stow-bag.html), $90

When told she needed a headset, she bought a David Clark H10-13.4 passive noise-cancelling headset.

To keep new grads safe, her high school had a Safe and Sane party where it raffled off a lot of neat stuff. Jung won a Samsung Galaxy. She has used it for SkyVector flight planning and FltPlan.com, and is planning cross-country flights with it. “I like to use that to supplement my cross-country planning, because then I can cross-check and cross-reference things and make sure [the information] is pretty correct.”

She also has a kneeboard to get through her training and a flight computer, but on that computer “you’re just spinning a dial,” she said. She prefers the TI-85 because she likes to know what sorts of calculations are being done.

Then there’s the matter of GPS. She isn’t sure she’ll “go out and buy a GPS system.” The Cessna 172N she trains in the most doesn’t have a GPS in the panel. The future is loaded with possibilities.

Gear for the student pilot

Boeing Stow Bag (www.sportys.com/pilotshop/boeing-stow-bag.html), $90
Dual Color Pilot’s Headlamp (www.sportys.com/pilotshop/dual-color-pilot-s-headlamp.html), $30. Also consider: Energizer Vision HD+ Focus LED Headlight (www.energizer.com), $22
Clip and Flip IFR Training Visor (www.sportys.com/pilotshop/clip-and-flip-ifr-training-visor-frosted.html), $20
Sporty’s SP400 handheld radio (www.sportys.com), $330
Ray-Ban Caravan Sunglasses (www.ray-ban.com), $150