Flying Equipment and Clothing

The range of clothing and equipment available to the General Aviation (GA) pilot in the UK is vast, and so is the potential bill. It is very easy to arrive at your local flying club and feel compelled to buy everything you see other pilots carrying. Before spending a penny, though, it pays to think carefully about what you actually need for the type of flying you are planning to do.

What Clothing Do You Need?

Your clothing choices depend heavily on the category of aircraft you intend to fly. Before buying anything, spend time at your flying club watching and talking to pilots who fly the same type of aircraft you are learning on. If a fellow pilot or the club can lend you a piece of kit to try before you buy, take that opportunity.

Pilots learning on an enclosed cockpit aircraft such as a Cessna 152 or a Piper PA-28 Cherokee can often fly in ordinary clothes. Comfortable trousers, a warm layer and sensible flat-soled shoes are entirely appropriate. Heels or thick-soled boots can make rudder pedal control difficult and are best avoided.

If you are training on a flexwing or three-axis microlight with an open cockpit, the requirements are quite different. A protective crash helmet with visor, thermal flying suit, gloves and sturdy boots are all practical necessities rather than optional extras. Pilots flying classic open cockpit biplanes such as the de Havilland Tiger Moth typically wear a leather flying helmet, goggles and a Nomex flight suit, which also offers a degree of fire resistance.

Whatever aircraft you fly, a good pair of sunglasses makes a genuine difference to comfort and situational awareness on bright days. Choose a pair that does not distort colour perception, as you need to read cockpit instruments accurately.

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Essential Equipment for Student Pilots

As a student working towards a UK Private Pilot Licence (PPL) or Light Aircraft Pilot Licence (LAPL), a small number of items are genuinely essential from early in your training.

• Pilot's Logbook. A legal requirement. Many clubs present you with one after your first lesson. The CAA requires you to record all flight time accurately, and your logbook will be inspected when you apply for your licence.
• Training Manuals. The PPL requires you to pass nine written theory examinations covering subjects including Air Law, Navigation, Meteorology, Human Performance and Aircraft General Knowledge. Good study guides are available from suppliers such as Pooleys and AFE. Budget around £15 to £30 per book, or consider a digital study package.
• Navigation Ruler and Protractor. A basic navigation set costs around £10 to £20. Buy the type your instructor recommends so that your lessons follow a consistent method.
• Kneeboard. A simple but invaluable item. A kneeboard keeps your route cards, checklists and a notepad within reach in flight so you can write down ATC instructions or frequencies without searching around the cockpit.
• Current UK Aeronautical Chart. The CAA publishes 1:500,000 charts for UK airspace. These are updated annually and you are legally required to carry a current edition when flying cross-country. A single chart costs around £15 and covers a large portion of the UK.
• Headset. Many training aircraft have a headset available for student use, but owning your own is strongly advisable for hygiene reasons and comfort. A reliable entry-level headset such as the David Clark H10-13.4 costs around £200 to £250. Noise-cancelling models are more expensive but significantly reduce fatigue on longer flights.

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Popular Additional Items

Once you are established in your training, you may find the following items useful depending on your flying and your budget.

• Flight bag. A dedicated bag to organise your charts, manuals, kneeboard and headset keeps everything in one place and saves time before each flight.
• Aviation GPS or tablet application. Apps such as SkyDemon or Garmin Pilot run on an iPad or Android tablet and provide moving map navigation with live airspace overlays. A SkyDemon subscription costs around £100 per year. These tools are genuinely useful but do not replace the need to understand traditional map reading, which your PPL training will require.
• Stopwatch or aviation timer. Useful for timing procedures and fuel checks.
• High-visibility jacket. Required on many airfields when moving around on the ground.
• Personal Locator Beacon (PLB). Recommended for any flying over remote terrain or water. Registered with the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency, a PLB can save your life if you come down in an isolated area.

Before You Buy

Talk to your instructor and to other club members before purchasing any significant item of kit. Ask what they use, what they would buy differently, and whether the club has items available to borrow or hire. Club notice boards and online forums such as the PPRuNe Student Pilots section regularly carry second-hand equipment at sensible prices. Buying nearly-new kit from a fellow pilot who has already progressed past the stage you are at is often the most practical and cost-effective approach when you are starting out.

The Next Step

Now that you have read through the advice above, you might want to put it into practice. Our Pilot Training Cost Calculator lets you work out what learning to fly really costs: get a realistic UK estimate for your licence, broken down into flight hours, instruction, exams, medical and test fees, so there are no surprises. Try it now →