AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2021 - 97

RUDDER & WRENCH
Flight
Time
Tips for dropping
pounds /
Closet of Doom
We have a spare closet in our house
that I call the Closet of Doom.
I call it that because it's always
a frightful mess, and no matter
how many times I purge it of its
contents, it somehow magically
re-fills itself with all manner of castoff
items. Likewise, some people's
airplanes collect stuff that's not
really needed on every flight, or, for
that matter, on any flight.
Gearheads
We pilots love our gadgets, and
we are masters of justifying the
need for them. Many of these
unused and " just in case " items
pile up in our airplanes, adding
weight. These gadgets hide in the
luggage compartment, lie on the
backseat, or get tucked into those
side pockets designed for the paper
charts that we don't use any more.
My advice: If you haven't used it in
ten flights, or you don't remember
how to use it anymore, leave it in
the hangar and lighten the load.
Resident cargo
Of course, sometimes it's not what
you carry, but how much. A quart of
oil in the luggage compartment is a
great idea. But a case? Unless you
have a problem engine, you can get
away with an emergency bottle of
oil and live off the land, buying oil as
you go. Also, leave the wheel chocks
back in the home hangar, along
with anything else not critical to the
particular cross-country flight.
Tools for every occasion
Do you know how much your tool
kit weighs? I've pared mine down to
a pair of stubby screwdrivers, a lost
screw first aid kit (two of every kind
that tend to come loose and fall
out), a small pair of pliers, a petite
pair of vice grips, and a flashlight.
That's pretty much everything a
pilot needs to do the types of field
repairs that pilots are permitted by
the regs to do. I don't carry duct
tape, but I can see that three feet
of it could be a good addition, and
wouldn't weigh much.
Airplane fat
Like pilots, airplanes tend to gain
weight as they age. At annual, ask
your mechanic if you have nests of
wire that go nowhere. Over many
years-as accessories and avionics
are repaired, replaced, and up
graded-airplanes tend to end up
with wires that are no longer needed.
Wires that often don't connect to
anything at either end. Partly, it's a
hassle to pull them out, and party the
mechanic mindset is that they might
be useful right where they are at
some point in the future.
Likewise, now that you have USB
ports, maybe it's time to remove
that old cigar lighter that powered
your first generation GPS, along
with all its wiring. And what about
dust and dirt? A good cleaning out
while the airplane is opened up can
literally lighten the load.
Want to get really serious? How
about an honest assessment of
your panel? Consider how you are
equipped, and how you fly. Do you
have extra poundage in the panel
that you don't ever use?
And lastly, a gain in useful load
may provide motivation to shed a
few extra pounds from the pilot in
command's waistline. Then, you
and your airplane can both be lean,
mean, flying machines. -WED
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AOPA PILOT / December 2021
97
http://www.aopa.org/pps
AOPA Pilot Magazine - December 2021

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