A Flight Instructor's Bag
- annaleoni05
- Dec 14, 2025
- 2 min read
Your typical flight students are used to flying 1-3 times per week, while their instructor's are flying 1-3 times per day, usually more. How do instructors stay fresh for students who are lined up for back to back lessons or how do they feel prepared to jump from one plane to the next? The real question lies in what they bring with them to each flight.
For me to feel fully prepared for the day ahead, I carry multiple items in my bag that I wouldn't dare make a cross country, night flight, shoot approaches, or practice manuevers without. When jumping from plane to plane, the first thing that comes to mind is keeping spare checklists and POH's. I have paper copies of all the types of aircraft I fly in a folder, but my primary medium is PDF copies on my iPad.
Other tools for instruction I keep are sticky notes (for partial panel work), a spare set of foggles, plenty of pens and pencils, a rechargable red light headlamp, a rechargeable flashlight, a spare USB-C cable for charging my ipad, a fuel sump cup, water bottle, gum, and finally, a pair of pliers for when the oil cap is too tight or burning hot. And finally, my trusty ANR headset and dutiful RayBan sunglasses, the two most important items I could not live without.
Something many instructor friends carry with them are ADS-B In recievers, which I am looking to invest in soon. I say "invest" because they are a hefty price, upwards of $800-$1000. However, being located underneath the Bravo airspace, it would prove very useful to me in keeping an eye on traffic in our practice area and times when the pattern seems too full.
And all of this can be kept in a simple backpack, no need to get fancy. All the bag is going to do is sit in the backseat and get oil on it at some point just like the rest of our clothes, so why go big? Each of the items I keep in my bag (except headset and Ipad of course) are simple, inexpensive products that have gotten me to just under 900 hours.
Some of the most useful of the bunch are listed here:
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