What's in a pilot's bag? The key things I take on every flight
A pilot's briefcase used to be a chunky piece of kit. A rectangular box with hard sides and gold latches protected by a three-digit code on each lock. Aircraft were designed with a space next to each flight-deck seat to house this leviathan of luggage.
These briefcases are linked to a former age of aviation, when a pilot had to be self-sufficient when they went to work. They carried hard copies of aviation charts for every airport the pilot could even potentially visit, performance charts for calculating take-off and landing figures and airline manuals outlining all the rules and procedures to follow.
Pilots would also carry what was known as an E-6B flight computer or 'whizz wheel', effectively a circular slide rule used for calculating things such as ground speed, wind correction, crosswind and fuel burn. Similar in size and shape to the protractor used for school maths, they were designed to fit neatly in a pilot's shirt pocket.
The heavy briefcases meant the long walks through an airport terminal required regular rotation between left and right arms to avoid injury, so the digital age is kinder to the shoulder joints. Today, most airlines provide a digital tablet, with thousands of pieces of paper now reduced to their digital equivalents that can be accessed with the swipe of a finger.
The digital tablets now contain apps for calculating take-off and landing performance, maps of flight paths, arrival and departure charts for airports, flight plans and, if the aircraft has Wi-Fi, real-time weather reports, including forecasts of turbulence and thunderstorms. Information can also be pushed by the airline, when it was traditionally delivered in paper form by hand to the flight deck. But the iPad equivalent, is not the only carry-on for a pilot.
Some modern aircraft are relatively quiet, but others are still deceptively noisy on the flight deck. Spending up to 1000 hours every year in them can be potentially damaging to a pilot's hearing so to guard against this, some choose to provide their own noise-cancelling headset, to dramatically reduce the impact.
Before every flight, the pilot is required to carry out a walk-around of the aircraft, essentially an inspection to ensure everything is serviceable. This means the pilot will often carry with them a high-visibility vest, a torch for night-time inspections, and another round of hearing protection for the extra noise of the airport tarmac.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Age
04-07-2025
- The Age
As a pilot, here are the key items I never fly without
Tools of the trade accompany every profession. Items that make achieving the job just a little bit easier. For a pilot, those items can be both technical and personal, but in a digital age, the one thing they are is significantly less cumbersome. A pilot's briefcase used to be a chunky piece of kit. A rectangular box with hard sides and gold latches protected by a three-digit code on each lock. Aircraft were designed with a space next to each flight-deck seat to house this leviathan of luggage. These briefcases are linked to a former age of aviation, when a pilot had to be self-sufficient when they went to work. They carried hard copies of aviation charts for every airport the pilot could even potentially visit, performance charts for calculating take-off and landing figures and airline manuals outlining all the rules and procedures to follow. Pilots would also carry what was known as an E-6B flight computer or 'whizz wheel', effectively a circular slide rule used for calculating things such as ground speed, wind correction, crosswind and fuel burn. Similar in size and shape to the protractor used for school maths, they were designed to fit neatly in a pilot's shirt pocket. The heavy briefcases meant the long walks through an airport terminal required regular rotation between left and right arms to avoid injury, so the digital age is kinder to the shoulder joints. Today, most airlines provide a digital tablet, with thousands of pieces of paper now reduced to their digital equivalents that can be accessed with the swipe of a finger. The digital tablets now contain apps for calculating take-off and landing performance, maps of flight paths, arrival and departure charts for airports, flight plans and, if the aircraft has Wi-Fi, real-time weather reports, including forecasts of turbulence and thunderstorms. Information can also be pushed by the airline, when it was traditionally delivered in paper form by hand to the flight deck. But the iPad equivalent, is not the only carry-on for a pilot. Some modern aircraft are relatively quiet, but others are still deceptively noisy on the flight deck. Spending up to 1000 hours every year in them can be potentially damaging to a pilot's hearing so to guard against this, some choose to provide their own noise-cancelling headset, to dramatically reduce the impact. Before every flight, the pilot is required to carry out a walk-around of the aircraft, essentially an inspection to ensure everything is serviceable. This means the pilot will often carry with them a high-visibility vest, a torch for night-time inspections, and another round of hearing protection for the extra noise of the airport tarmac.
Sydney Morning Herald
02-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
What's in a pilot's bag? The key things I take on every flight
Tools of the trade accompany every profession. Items that make achieving the job just a little bit easier. For a pilot, those items can be both technical and personal, but in a digital age, the one thing they are is significantly less cumbersome. A pilot's briefcase used to be a chunky piece of kit. A rectangular box with hard sides and gold latches protected by a three-digit code on each lock. Aircraft were designed with a space next to each flight-deck seat to house this leviathan of luggage. These briefcases are linked to a former age of aviation, when a pilot had to be self-sufficient when they went to work. They carried hard copies of aviation charts for every airport the pilot could even potentially visit, performance charts for calculating take-off and landing figures and airline manuals outlining all the rules and procedures to follow. Pilots would also carry what was known as an E-6B flight computer or 'whizz wheel', effectively a circular slide rule used for calculating things such as ground speed, wind correction, crosswind and fuel burn. Similar in size and shape to the protractor used for school maths, they were designed to fit neatly in a pilot's shirt pocket. The heavy briefcases meant the long walks through an airport terminal required regular rotation between left and right arms to avoid injury, so the digital age is kinder to the shoulder joints. Today, most airlines provide a digital tablet, with thousands of pieces of paper now reduced to their digital equivalents that can be accessed with the swipe of a finger. The digital tablets now contain apps for calculating take-off and landing performance, maps of flight paths, arrival and departure charts for airports, flight plans and, if the aircraft has Wi-Fi, real-time weather reports, including forecasts of turbulence and thunderstorms. Information can also be pushed by the airline, when it was traditionally delivered in paper form by hand to the flight deck. But the iPad equivalent, is not the only carry-on for a pilot. Some modern aircraft are relatively quiet, but others are still deceptively noisy on the flight deck. Spending up to 1000 hours every year in them can be potentially damaging to a pilot's hearing so to guard against this, some choose to provide their own noise-cancelling headset, to dramatically reduce the impact. Before every flight, the pilot is required to carry out a walk-around of the aircraft, essentially an inspection to ensure everything is serviceable. This means the pilot will often carry with them a high-visibility vest, a torch for night-time inspections, and another round of hearing protection for the extra noise of the airport tarmac.
The Age
02-07-2025
- The Age
What's in a pilot's bag? The key things I take on every flight
Tools of the trade accompany every profession. Items that make achieving the job just a little bit easier. For a pilot, those items can be both technical and personal, but in a digital age, the one thing they are is significantly less cumbersome. A pilot's briefcase used to be a chunky piece of kit. A rectangular box with hard sides and gold latches protected by a three-digit code on each lock. Aircraft were designed with a space next to each flight-deck seat to house this leviathan of luggage. These briefcases are linked to a former age of aviation, when a pilot had to be self-sufficient when they went to work. They carried hard copies of aviation charts for every airport the pilot could even potentially visit, performance charts for calculating take-off and landing figures and airline manuals outlining all the rules and procedures to follow. Pilots would also carry what was known as an E-6B flight computer or 'whizz wheel', effectively a circular slide rule used for calculating things such as ground speed, wind correction, crosswind and fuel burn. Similar in size and shape to the protractor used for school maths, they were designed to fit neatly in a pilot's shirt pocket. The heavy briefcases meant the long walks through an airport terminal required regular rotation between left and right arms to avoid injury, so the digital age is kinder to the shoulder joints. Today, most airlines provide a digital tablet, with thousands of pieces of paper now reduced to their digital equivalents that can be accessed with the swipe of a finger. The digital tablets now contain apps for calculating take-off and landing performance, maps of flight paths, arrival and departure charts for airports, flight plans and, if the aircraft has Wi-Fi, real-time weather reports, including forecasts of turbulence and thunderstorms. Information can also be pushed by the airline, when it was traditionally delivered in paper form by hand to the flight deck. But the iPad equivalent, is not the only carry-on for a pilot. Some modern aircraft are relatively quiet, but others are still deceptively noisy on the flight deck. Spending up to 1000 hours every year in them can be potentially damaging to a pilot's hearing so to guard against this, some choose to provide their own noise-cancelling headset, to dramatically reduce the impact. Before every flight, the pilot is required to carry out a walk-around of the aircraft, essentially an inspection to ensure everything is serviceable. This means the pilot will often carry with them a high-visibility vest, a torch for night-time inspections, and another round of hearing protection for the extra noise of the airport tarmac.
