What's in your kneeboard?

MetalCloud

MetalCloud

Line Up and Wait
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MetalCloud
I'm trying to put together some handy references for storage in my trifold kneeboard.

The clipboard part has a bunch of cool stuff (lightgun reference, etc.). I just made a table for max glide distance in NM based on altitude.

I might also do another worksheet:

Waypoint / ATIS / Tower / Ground

and just fill in before each flight based on my planned path.


What's some other cool stuff to add in?
 
A clipboard with a pad of paper and a pen. You'll see that over time you will use it less and less.
 
Years ago I put together a sheet with some commonly used local frequencies and another with some information I rarely used - light signals, info for filing a flight plan in the air, IFR reporting, some formulas, stuff like that- as a quick reference. Also used the kneeboard pages for checklists.

Using a tablet made most if that (along with the bulky kneeboard) unnecessary. Still have and use the reference sheet from time to time but it's also on my tablet.
 
My kneeboard holds a RAM mount which holds an Asus TF700.
 
This is what I am am moving to. It's a work in progress. Original idea came from Bruce Williams(BruceAir)

But often it's just a simple note pad.

Also attached to my kneeboard is my trusty kitchen timer.
 

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I have the usual printed reminders on the "VFR Kneeboard"

I USE a notepad, and I've made laminated cards (5x7) with the vSpeeds and configurations for the particular plane I'm in. Helps a lot since I bounce around between 4 very different planes.
 
Configurations are.....?

Your pitch + power = performance numbers for approaches and landing?
 
TommyG said:
A clipboard with a pad of paper and a pen. You'll see that over time you will use it less and less.
Click to expand...
+1:yes:

I went from a trifold kneeboard to a small memo notepad you get at the office supply store on a small plastic clipboard with rounded edges. I put electrical tape around the edges in case I set it on my glare shield and it comes in contact with windshield (no scratches)

Just clip the pen to the top layer of pages and keep between the seats or on glare shield. Then when I hear ATC start to call my sign its a reflex to grab the clipboard and put it on my leg.

This is what I have now
http://www.staples.com/Staples-Plastic-Memo-Clipboards-Black-Blue-6-x-9-2-Pack-21423-/product_329498
 
If it helps you learn stuff, great.

But you will run out of (or forget) your forms one day and never use them again. You'll also find that various short hands may or may not be compatible.

Every flight, I use a kneeboard with 3 or 4 sheets of blank half size paper, even for IFR.

As for glide distances, there is generally a simple formula unless you're REALLY high. Like, 1.5 miles per thousand feet in a 172. But that goes out the window with significant wind. No need for a table.
 
I just use a 5x8 notepad on a small clipboard. I fold up my flight plan routing and put it on top with any navaid freqs written above the identifier. Sometimes I'll write the destination frequencies down as well for quick reference. I leave room to write down all frequencies en-route so I can jump back a freq if necessary.
 
I use a bi-fold kneeboard and mount my ipad on the yolk for longer flights, but place the ipad on my lap for shorter ones. Besides the pad of paper, which i write frequencies and TPAs for the airports i'll be visiting, i have a print out of both the 172's pre-flight/post-flight instructions as well as a printout of the V speeds for the model i'm flying (i rent). i keep a couple pens handy.
 
MetalCloud said:
I just made a table for max glide distance in NM based on altitude.
Click to expand...

How good are you at estimating distances over the ground from altitude? I'm not very good at that.

I've read that a good (if not better) substitute is to pick a point on the windshield, or on the strut if you're flying a braced high wing, that matches your best glide angle. You can find it by going flying at X altitude Y MN from a known point, where X and Y are a point on your max glide line. Mark the spot on your windshield with a grease pencil if you can. Anything below that point you can reach engine-out; anything above it you can't.

Safe flights.
 
In almost every airplane I've flown, if you can see it through the front windscreen, you can't make it in a glide. Look for landing sites much closer than that.

More to the point, wind changes everything. Even around the Bay, the highest wind I've seen at altitude has been 45 knots, while calm at the ground. 15-20 knots at 3000 isn't that rare. You won't estimate glides with any precision that way.
 
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MAKG1 said:
In almost every airplane I've flown, if you can see it through the front windscreen, you can't make it in a glide. Look for landing sites much closer than that.

More to the point, wind changes everything. Even around the Bay, the highest wind I've seen at altitude has been 45 knots, while calm at the ground. 15-20 knots at 3000 isn't that rare. You won't estimate glides with any precision that way.
Click to expand...

Damn good point sir. For the XC in that other thread the winds were 18 up there.
 
As a student pilot who is just flying around the pattern by himself right now all I need is somthing to hold my taxi diagram
 

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Rebel Lord said:
As a student pilot who is just flying around the pattern by himself right now all I need is somthing to hold my taxi diagram
Click to expand...
And you'll eventually learn your home airport well enough that you don't need it. Conroe is simple, fortunately! When I wind up exciting bravo or something, I sometimes forget which taxiway I'm on, though lol
 
mkosmo said:
And you'll eventually learn your home airport well enough that you don't need it. Conroe is simple, fortunately! When I wind up exciting bravo or something, I sometimes forget which taxiway I'm on, though lol
Click to expand...

Honestly I bought one because i thought it looked cool

B)
 
AggieMike88 said:
Configurations are.....?

Your pitch + power = performance numbers for approaches and landing?
Click to expand...

Yes... MP, RPM, fuel flow, flaps, gear, airspeed for each phase of the approach and landing. Makes it easier to stay on my 500 or 750 foot per minute decent.
 
TommyG said:
A clipboard with a pad of paper and a pen. You'll see that over time you will use it less and less.
Click to expand...

This. Right now I am down to a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper and a pen.
 
MetalCloud said:
I'm trying to put together some handy references for storage in my trifold kneeboard.

The clipboard part has a bunch of cool stuff (lightgun reference, etc.). I just made a table for max glide distance in NM based on altitude.

I might also do another worksheet:

Waypoint / ATIS / Tower / Ground

and just fill in before each flight based on my planned path.


What's some other cool stuff to add in?
Click to expand...

Light gun signals is really all you need because anything else you can just ask for. One thing I see with new pilots is they are afraid to use ATC as a resource, don't be. Most helpful bunch of folks I've found, but you have to ask.

Your glide table will be incorrect and completely useless as it's not corrected for wind or weight, and most people can't judge distance accurately to within 1000% margin of error.

Glide to land spot is determined by pointing to where you are gliding and seeing if that spot moves up in your windshield at all. The moment it does, choose another spot because you're not making that one. If it goes down, be prepared to add drag near the end because you're overshooting. As many or more emergency landings go bad because they went long as fell short.
 
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Gucci Pilot said:
This. Right now I am down to a 8 1/2" x 11" piece of paper and a pen.
Click to expand...

I usually have a 3"x4" scrap of paper left over from the last flight clipped to the chart holder on the yoke. It has:
-- Flight Number
-- Flight Attendant names (we call them by name during announcements)
-- Gate # / Current ATIS ID (Some gate markings are hard to see!)
-- MINTO (Min. takeoff fuel which needs to be referenced before takeoff)
-- Zero fuel weight (for landing computation)

I'll scribble taxi instructions and other misc. info as it arises.
 
Henning said:
Light gun signals is really all you need because anything else you can just ask for. One thing I see with new pilots is they are afraid to use ATC as a resource, don't be. Most helpful bunch of folks I've found, but you have to ask.
Click to expand...

Meh. Green = Go/Continue/Land; Red = Stop/Don't Continue/Hang Out
Red/Green = Be Careful!
 
I have my iPad in a rubberized case, and lay it on the knee board - the case keeps it from sliding. And a small notepad.

I might print the airport diagram, if the destination is unfamiliar, and I'm arriving at night. Same-same for a few approach plates for the destination. And put them on the knee board.

But mostly, just the iPad and a notepad.
 
ipad on left knee, half-size clipboard on right.

On the clipboard:

  • a random scrap of paper, to write whatever ATC tells me, because I fly IFR and I forget.
  • a page from AOPA re. what to do in a ramp check or law enforcement stop.
  • the clipboard itself is printed by its manufacturer with stuff like light-gun signals and the sequence of items when giving a pirep.
  • I need to add a diagram of my circuit-breaker layout, because the circuit breakers are hard to examine in my plane, and they are not depicted in my checklist booklet.
 
LDJones said:
I usually have a 3"x4" scrap of paper left over from the last flight clipped to the chart holder on the yoke...
I'll scribble taxi instructions and other misc. info as it arises.
Click to expand...

That is basically exactly what I do.
 
I have a clipboard with a pen tied to it on a string. Stuck to the clipboard is a pad of large-format 3M sticky notes. It's a tri-fold one that AOPA sent me years ago. I only use the center part and even then it's mostly for initial route clearances and random stuff like the tail number of an airplane that ATC wants me to relay to, oddball route changes, or the phone number that ATC gives me when I land. :eek:
 
How you manage your cockpit is a very personal thing. Obviously simplicity is best. Since I only fly VFR, I keep a paper chart handy on the dash on XC trips. Ipad on the floor, and on my lap when flying in tricky airspace. And other than that a small memo pad with hand-drawn runway configurations and TPA/frequencies of destination airports, and space to copy frequencies and ATIS stuff. This is also kept on the dash with the chart. I don't use a kneeboard anymore. Oh, yeah, I keep a paper checklist and flight plan clipped to the memo pad. One idea that I haven't tried yet is to attach a lanyard to my pen. Kinda sucks to drop your pen in the middle of trying to copy stuff down.

You will eventually figure out what works best for you, and modify it as you go.
 
I've not used a kneeboard in decades. I have a small spiral notebook I write my clearances in everything else is done on the iPad which I just leave in the right seat (if unoccupied) or have the right seat passenger hold it.
 
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