Wow, great thread,
Buster172!
FNG, you can have Michelle Pfeiffer if I can have Anna Kournikova. (PS - I will reply to the mail you sent me back in Jan some time!)
Zlin - chart that folds itself is a nice idea, but much easier to fold before you fly. But my major complaint about US sectional charts while flying out there is they are double-sided - which means having to completely re-fold in-flight if you're going across the half-way point! Was a pain in a PA28, extremely difficult in a Super Cub, and I'd hate to think what it would be like in an open-cockpit plane - I think I'd be buying two charts! But apart from that, and the fact that they're not laminated (personal preference, I know Tinstaafl prefers un-laminated charts but I don't!) US charts are mostly better than ours. I particularly the fact that runway layouts are shown on the chart, which makes identifying airports for navigation purposes easy, and also helps plan an arrival. We could learn a lot from that.
Pulse - when I took my Uncle flying, my cousin warned me that he'd been practicing on Flight Sim, and that I shouldn't let him fly the plane because he's always using the pause/reset buttons on Flight Sim!
Dublinpilot - if you fly in balance, it shouldn't matter whether you're banked or not, things won't slide around!
And my own addition: PA28s (well, most of them) have nice pockets next to the pilot to store charts, etc. in during flight. PA18s have similar pockets, except the pocket on the PA18 is metal. I'm pretty sure that this accounts for my charts becoming damaged very easilly since I started flying the PA18 - my UK (laminated) chart has a big hole in it right on a fold that often catches on the pocket, and my US (unlaminated) chart managed to last less than a month before being completely destroyed! Let's keep pockets made out of vinyl or something similar that's not going to tear the things we put in the pockets!
FFF. .---------