Congratulations – you are about to enter the ranks of the relatively few people in human history that have gotten the chance to fly themselves. It wasn’t until a little over a century ago that powered flight was even technologically possible, so getting to learn how to do this is a relatively new thing. At this point you’ve picked out your flight school or instructor, booked that first lesson, but now the question is what should I bring to my first flight lesson?
Here are 6 things you don’t want to forget for your first flight lesson:
- Headset (you can usually borrow one from the flight school if needed)
- Kneeboard
- Logbook
- Sunglasses
- Reading glasses (if you normally use them)
- VFR charts (paper or digital)
Let’s elaborate a little on each of those to understand why each of those will be important and relevant in your first flight lesson and beyond.
p.s. this topic also appeared on our YouTube channel – if you haven’t checked it out or subscribed yet, please do!
Headset
You’ll want to use an ANR (active noise reduction) headset when flying, such as a Bose A20 (my preference), Lightspeed Zulu (my second preference), or David Clark (my distant third choice but I much prefer the Bose or Lightspeed before this… if you go with David Clark make sure it’s an ANR as not all models are).
The ANR headset will cancel out a ton of noise and allow you to hear much better in the cockpit. Particularly while you’re in a learning environment, it’s essential to be able to hear your instructor well and not have to fight through the cockpit noise.
You don’t necessarily need to buy a headset before your first flight lesson (they aren’t cheap, but personally I’d go ahead and spend the money on the Bose A20 – you’ll never regret it). Lots of flight schools (or individual instructors if you are going that route) will have headsets that you can borrow for free or a small charge. Granted these won’t always be ANR technology so they’ll have more noise but it’s a free option for the time being.
If you are serious about getting your pilot’s license, go ahead and invest in a really good headset up front. It will make the experience much more enjoyable, I promise. Again I’d go with the Bose or Lightspeed from my personal experience of owning and using both (I’ve used David Clarks a lot too and personally don’t think they compare to Bose or Lightspeed).
Kneeboard
It might sound odd at first, but there will be plenty of things to write down during the flight. One of the first things you’ll do after starting the engine is listen to the local weather (AWOS, ASOS, or ATIS) at the airport. You’ll want to be able to write down things such as the wind direction and speed, active runway, altimeter setting, and more.
I found that early on in training as well I was writing down what air traffic control was telling me (even simple things like taxiway instructions) until I learned the cadence and knew what to expect and could rattle it back off from memory.
You’ll want a kneeboard with a clip for a notepad on it. There are some complex models out there but personally I’ve always used the ASA Flight Board and it’s worked just fine. This is simply a hard flat surface with a Velcro strap that will go around your leg so that you are able to write with one hand.
You’ll need to write things down mid-flight as well from time to time, and won’t have both hands to hold a notepad and write. You’ll need one hand on the flight controls and so your notepad needs to be held down by something in order to write on it with one hand. That’s where the kneeboard comes in. These are inexpensive and readily available on Amazon.
Logbook
One of the joys of flying is that you’ll keep a logbook that records every flight you make. Not only will you be able to document and remember each flight and adventure you had, but you’ll also be able to keep up with your total flight hours for lots of different reasons. You’ll need your documented flight hours to prove you are eligible for various licenses (private, commercial, instrument, etc.), as well as document your takeoff and landing currencies to be able to carry passengers once you’re a licensed pilot.
While you’re training your instructor will sign your logbook as “dual” time, which means you are receiving instruction. Once you’re a pilot (and while you are solo-ing as a student pilot) you’ll be able to log your flight hours as “pilot in command.”
Digital flying products such as Foreflight have an electronic logbook feature which is actually really awesome, but I have found that nothing can substitute the written logbook. I actually use both for redundancy but treat my written log as the master version. The standard logbook (I mean just standard, but it’s literally called “the standard”) will do and you don’t ned a ton of pages at first. I’ve always had this exact kind.
Sunglasses
This is pretty straightforward. Can’t recommend this enough. One important note though: don’t get polarized lenses. Polarized lenses tend to help reduce and eliminate glare from water and glass, which is usually a useful feature. However from personal experience I have noticed that certain avionics screens get filtered out by polarized lenses and you can’t see them. If you only have polarized lenses, I’d try a flight lesson first and see if it’s an issue before you go buy another pair of expensive lenses. But before you go and buy a fancy new pair of aviators to celebrate and embrace your newfound flying pursuit, keep in mind the lens polarization might actually be an issue.
Prescription Glasses
If you use reading glasses, be sure to bring those in the airplane. The avionics panel will only be about half an arm’s length away, so if you need glasses to read a book or see your computer screen, there’s a great chance you’re going to need the same glasses in the cockpit. The same goes for the opposite – if you can’t see well far away and usually use corrective lenses or contacts to compensate, be sure to bring these flying.
Eventually your flight medical exam will test for vision and put a stipulation on your medical certification that you must use corrective lenses, if applicable (just as they would on a driver’s license). I can’t imagine being able to not see the instrument panel or the runway…. Don’t let that happen on account of forgetting your glasses!
Optional: VFR Charts (Map)
You probably won’t need this for the first lesson, but it would be helpful to have access to VFR aeronautical sectional charts (printed or digital). This is basically the aviation equivalent of a road map. Eventually you will use these quite frequently in training, so you might as well have them from the start. Depending on where you are training they may or may not let you use Foreflight or similar tablet software, and so I always had to have a physical copy of the maps with me.
Note that sectional charts are broken into different geographic regions (as the name suggests) and so you’ll need to see which sectional chart you would fall under. They update these usually every 8 weeks or so, so they will expire at some point (they make great wrapping paper when they’ve expired).
At the beginning of your training these sectional charts will be helpful during flight briefing as you’ll see where you are on the map and where you will be flying to train. Eventually you’ll need these in the cockpit as well for navigation and cross country purposes.
These charts are more than just “road maps”… they contain all kinds of information such as types of airspace, radio frequencies, physical landmarks, navigational beacons, and so much more. They are kind of confusing at first but once you learn what everything means they are quite legible.
Related Questions
What should I expect in my first flight lesson?
Your first flight lesson will be pretty straightforward. You will mainly be getting acquainted and familiar with the airplane, the checklist, and very basic flight maneuvers. Your instructor will likely do a lot of demonstration including how to pre-flight the airplane, how to go through checklists, what each instrument in the avionics means and what it’s used for, how to taxi, and how to takeoff (you might do this yourself or you might just follow them along on the flight controls and do it together).
You’ll cover basic maneuvers such as turns, climbs, and descents, and then the instructor will do the landing and walk you through what’s happening. There’s a lot to cover in the first lesson but it’s mainly just aimed at getting you acquainted with the aircraft, procedures, and basic maneuvers.
It will probably only last for an hour or so as it’s hard to really soak in much more information than that at first.
What should I wear?
Dress casually and comfortably. More than likely your airplane won’t have air conditioning, but most airplanes do have heaters. Air conditioners are expensive (to the tune of $30k+) and heavy, so most small aircraft will only have air vents. If you’re training outside of winter, it is going to get hot on the ground but will be more tolerable once you’re in the air.
What should I learn before the first lesson?
Glad you asked. We did a whole post on this – see “9 Easy Things to Learn Before Your First Flight Lesson”. In reality you can come to your first flight lesson with zero prior knowledge and be just fine (everyone starts from zero), but there are a few things that youtube’ing before would probably make the first lesson make a little more sense to you. Check out our post!
Blue skies and happy training!
