Surely no student actually flies around with a bag full of all this clobber do they?
Headset. Clubs provide them. Learn from your experience of trying several over several months before you go and buy one if buy one you must. Unless you do a lot of flying a personal headset is a usually big spend for little gain. Borrow ones off friends to try them if you can and you'll immediately find that the David Clarke, though inexplicably the commonest is also by far the most uncomfortable. Hideous things. There are many far lighter and more comfortable ones out there. Also different aircraft can have different plugs so best wait until you've got a licence and a regular mount before buying the correct one. I know there are adaptors available but they are very costly and an utter nuisance as they just multiply the number of connections to go wrong. Avoid.
Learning to be a pilot is not about acquiring a bag full of geeky gadgets. All the shops and mags are trying to sell you gadgets. You don't need any of them beyond the basic set from your training days tho some can be nice and some save a bit of time. What they have in common is expense. Watch and wait before you go buying them. Most lie around forever unused amongst the sandwich crumbs and toffee wrappers at the bottom of the bag. Rmember, price is not necessarlily related to value or usefulness. The flying school will set you up with the charts, rulers and protractors you need as and when you need them, and I'm sure you don't need advice about sunnies and hats any more than you do about shoes and socks.
Pilot bags. The top-opening rigid ones are useless even on many types of airliner as there is often nowhere to store them. There is virtually never room for one in a light aircraft except on the back seat where they cannot be reached. They are totally inappropriate for general aviation (await incoming!). What you need is an A4 size or thereabouts flexible document case that you can tuck in next to you. That'll hold all you need. If it doesn't I suggest you are probanly carrying too much.
My entire basic flying training was done carrying whizz wheel and protractor in a leg pocket, chart with frequencies (and route if on Nav) appended in hand, navlog on kneepad and chinagraph in top pocket. Plus sunnies and gloves. That's all. I can't remember ever using the whizz-wheel in the air so that was probably superfluous. Airfield diagrams and data fit onto a kneeboard unless tou're touring when a more comprehensive guide is useful.
Go pros. plural!!???? As a student? That's a way to create a reputation, I'd have thought. Big no-no.
I wonder why anyone would anyone carry a compass in their pilot-bag?
Last edited by noflynomore; 5th Jul 2017 at 15:56.