What to leave in, what to leave out
Packing for near and far flying trips
First, picture your airplane on a lonely, exposed airport ramp. Then think about how to protect it. Pare that down to essentials and you’ve got your airplane packing list.
Next, imagine you and your passengers immediately after a successful forced landing along your chosen route. Then think about the things you’ll need to alert rescuers and protect yourselves from the elements until they arrive. That’s your emergency gear packing list.
With thoughtfulness, some practice, and the aid of bitter experience from overlooking helpful items on previous trips, you’ll be ready for your next adventure.
Here are some strategies from two recent flying trips.
A Baron to the Caribbean
This trip involved flying long distances over water, so a survival raft large enough for all airplane occupants and personal floatation devices were top of mind.
The floatation vests were worn throughout the flights, and they were surprisingly comfortable and unobtrusive. Placement of the inflatable raft was more difficult. It was bulky and weighed about 50 pounds. To be of any use, it would have to be pushed out of the airplane following a ditching at sea and not allowed to sink with the airplane.
The raft fit easily in the baggage area at the rear of the fuselage, but could we get to it there after a water landing? Would we be able to open the baggage door from the inside after an impact on what would likely to be a rough ocean surface? Probably not.
With thoughtfulness, some practice, and the aid of bitter experience from overlooking helpful items on previous trips, you’ll be ready for your next adventure.Instead, the raft went on the floor of the right front seat. It reduced legroom for the right-seat passenger, but it vastly increased the chance that it would stay within reach and be useful after a ditching. It also improved our chances of getting it out the cabin door after ditching.
The raft itself was equipped with a personal locator beacon (PLB), but we also carried a separate waterproof PLB and a Garmin InReach satellite messenger that could help rescuers find us in a pinch.
On the subject of clothing, even in a tropical climate, long-sleeve shirts and pants are wise to wear because they offer meaningful sun and wind protection. None of us relished the idea of spending the night, or even multiple nights, bobbing on the ocean in a raft. But if that had to happen, the odds of living through it would be much improved with less direct skin exposure to sun, wind, and water. In addition, the idea that any of us could retrieve the desired clothing from a packed bag after a ditching seemed to be almost zero.
A cooler with a locking lid was stocked with water and energy bars for emergency use, and for back-up navigation we had a portable Garmin 796 GPS with a current Americas database that included the Caribbean, and an iPad paired with a Sentry ADS-B receiver for weather and traffic.
For the airplane, we brought a spare inner tube and patch kit for a flat tire, a couple spark plugs and the tools required to change them in the field, a plug-in battery charger, and six quarts of engine oil.
Other items that travel with the airplane all the time include throttle locks, a first-aid kit, aircraft cover, cowl plugs, chocks, tiedowns, control locks, and a tow bar.
An RV–4 overnight
Going places in this lightweight sport airplane puts a premium on packing light. Baggage space and weight (50 pounds) are extremely restrictive but still doable. My adult daughter and I planned a wintertime trip to the Rock ’N Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio, about 1.5 flight hours away, and which would mean leaving the airplane outside in temperatures around freezing—a real shock for a pampered airplane that spends most of its life in an insulated hangar. I brought a canvas canopy cover, cowl plugs, control lock, nylon tiedown ropes, and lightweight wheel chocks. An extension cord allowed the plug-in engine heater to keep the engine compartment and oil warm overnight despite being outside.
On a previous RV–4 trip, I’d foolishly forgotten the screw-in eyelets—one on the bottom of each wing—and that allow the airplane to be securely tied down. Now, I keep a pair of eyelets with the tiedowns so I’m less likely to overlook them in the future.
Our route mostly covered populated areas with low elevations except for crossing the Appalachians. Even though we’d cross the mountains in a relatively low and well-traveled region, a forced landing could mean spending a night outdoors in subfreezing temperatures. A pair of lightweight sleeping bags meant for temperatures in the 20s added less than three pounds to our baggage weight.
The total weight for the airplane gear was 15 pounds, and that allowed plenty of margin for clothes, personal items, and—most importantly—Bluetooth headsets that allowed us to listen to our favorite tunes along the way.
Go-bags
Since flying trips tend to come up on short notice, I keep a couple prepacked “go-bags” ready. One is a simple, durable, military surplus helmet bag stocked with essential flight gear: headset, kneeboard, sunglasses, flashlight, portable GPS, ADS-B receiver, and batteries. There’s also a backcountry vest with PLB, satellite messenger, iPhone charging cords, and gloves that I can include if necessary.
My other pre-packed bag is a slightly larger duffel that holds airplane gear: canopy cover, cowl plugs, control locks, chocks, extension cord, and tiedowns.
One of the best things about general aviation is that it can be spontaneous—and prepacking some gear allows pilots to be ready when opportunities arise.
