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Old 19th Nov 2008, 21:49
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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There is a HUGE "pilot" shop near where I live. Called the "Luchtvaart Hobby Shop" - you'd be able to find it online. The "pilot" shop is something like two shelves where they sell VFR charts, headsets, flight computers, flight bags, fuel testers and a few other bits and pieces a pilot needs. It's about half the size of the section with the model aircraft, and a third of the size of the assemble-yourself-aircraft section. They've also got a huge section dedicated to flight sims, including a demo area, roughly circular, 6m across, boasting no less than four sim setups, ranging from simple Cessna 172 with one screen to a 737 setup with three beamers and a full-size cockpit. Various other sections have books on every imaginable subject, 90% on aviation history, types and models, and only 10% directly intended for pilots or wannabees (like a 737 FMS manual). Throw in the department with goodies like lapel pins, coasters, badges, five-bar epaulettes, "remove before flight" keyring tags, mugs, wall clocks and such and you'll understand that it is very hard for an aviation enthousiast (aka a spotter) to walk out of there empty-handed.

But as far as pilot stuff is concerned, the stuff I need in the cockpit, well, I buy my VFR charts there because they're reasonably close to where I live. All my other stuff was bought elsewhere: either online or at a pilot shop which is actually located at the airfield.
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