AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - January 2014 - 89

P&E

DOGFIGHT: FLIGHT BAGS
Senior Editors Dave Hirschman and Ian
Twombly debate the merits of a flight
bag-bells, whistles, and a zipper or two.

Tough, simple, proven

More is better

B Y D AV E H I R S C H M A N

B Y I A N J. T W O M B LY

THE MODERN FLIGHT BAG is an overthought, over-stuffed, and
over-priced parody of itself.
Trying to use one is like
entering a house of mirrors:
a semi-comedic and confusing exercise in which the simple
items we look for in flight-batteries, a pack of gum, a note pad-are
sure to be hidden in some obscure
pocket within a pocket.
If pilots really want more zippers, they must own stock in
a zipper company, because today's flight bags already have so
many that some flight bag manufactures have begun color-coding them. Really.
My favorite flight bag is an actual bag. It's a military-surplus
helmet bag purchased for less than $20, and it reminds me of a
circus clown car in its seemingly magical power to swallow an
ever-growing quantity of "essential" gear.
It's got one zipper and two side pouches,
and I can almost always find what I'm
looking for without, well, looking. Just
reach in, fish around for a few seconds,
and pull out the kneeboard, headset,
sunglasses, GPS, flashlight, or approach
plates, or Aleve as you please. Do you
really require a special bag to carry your
fragile Apple product du jour?
DAVE HIRSCHMAN
If your iWhatever requires constant
in-flight fondling, why stuff it in a lowly bag at all? Won't it
feel lonely and get depressed in such a dark place?
My frumpy, shapeless bag seems indestructible, and during the years it's accompanied me on trips all over the planet,
it's developed an indomitable character of its own. It's persevered through abuse including extreme heat and cold, rough
handling, dousing, and neglect, and always come through no
worse for the wear. It's even sat on a few ashen passengers'
knees as a barf bag of last resort (although it so far has escaped
being used for that ghastly purpose). And it's easy to identify,
even in a heap of helmet bags, because of its simple Velcro
name tag.
So the next time you're in the market for something to carry
flight gear, consider the lowly helmet bag. It's simple, reliable,
has a great aviation pedigree, and will never hide what you're
looking for when you need it most.
AOPA

FIVE YEARS AGO the debate over

whether to use a trash-bag-style
flight bag or one with pockets would have been irrelevant.
When the pocketed bag only
had three pockets, it didn't really
matter. But then came Brightline
Bags, and our impression of all
that was good and holy in the world
of flight bags came crashing down.
Brightline is now joined in the pocket
race by Sporty's, MyGoFlight, and others. And this is a great thing.
Having a flight bag with lots of pockets makes great sense for three
basic reasons.
First, they protect the contents. If all we carried were a headset, a sectional chart, and a kneeboard, a flight bag full of pockets
would still make sense. But now with handheld GPS, and especially
tablet computers, having dedicated pockets is a must. iPads are surprisingly hardy, except when the glass is
exposed to pressure-then the glass shatters, and the only map you'll need is to the
nearest Apple store. If you invest a minimum of $500 in a tablet, it only makes sense
to protect it in a good bag. The same goes
for that $1,000 headset.
The next reason to say no to the trash
bag is easy access. How many times have
you rummaged through a backpack, or
IAN TWOMBLY
packed luggage, for something small
that's hidden among all the other contents? Now imagine trying that at 3,500 feet while you're doing 120 knots-at night.
This is when you'll wish you had dedicated pockets for flashlights, sunglasses, charts, tablets, sick sacks, and anything else
you need right now.
Finally, there's the harder to quantify "cool" factor. Part of the
joy of being in any activity is the stuff. The gear. It makes you feel
like part of the club, helps you identify with the rest of the community, and connects you to the activity even when you're not doing it.
Flight bags check off all these boxes. They hold what represents all
that's great about aviation-the fuel sampling cups, the flashlights,
charts, kneeboards, and headsets. The repurposed trash-bag-style
bag may be resourceful but it doesn't speak aviation.
Brightline's continued success and Sporty's expanding line of
pocketed bags says most pilots agree with this, too. As Sporty's John
Zimmerman put it, "Over time, we've added more and more pockets to our flight bags, and everyone keeps asking for more." AOPA

EMAIL dave.hirschman@aopa.org
EMAIL ian.twombly@aopa.org

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AOPA Turbine Pilot Magazine - January 2014

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