4G goes without saying, as I'll need online access and tethering to a mobile phone drains the phone battery quickly.
16Gb - especially if I load it with media to entertain myself during down time - seems small, so I reckon 32Gb at a minimum.
Looking at the sizes, the iPad Air is about the size of a B5 piece of paper - or half A4 - and about 4cm x 3cm bigger than the mini. It's only about 130 grams more.
You guys comparing the full-size with the mini, does that include the Air or the older iPad models? The Airs are quite a bit lighter, half as thick and 2cm shorter.
I know it sounds like I'm trying to talk myself into the bigger model, but I normally carry an A4 clipboard with me in the cockpit that sits on my lap a fair bit of the time and the B5 iPad seems small in comparison.
Nothing wrong with my eyesight or fingers - I've been doing everything up to now on a 4.5" smartphone - but where the original iPads always looked a bit bulky (and heavy) to me, the Airs seem like a decent size.
Thanks for the responses so far.