Simply put, the iPad will change how you fly.

If it hasn’t already, that is.

This review is for anyone who’s wondering if they should bother with bringing an iPad loaded with ForeFlight into the cockpit — or if adding a Stratus 2S ADS-B receiver to your flight bag is worth the cost.

It would be impossible to do a full-featured review on these two products. They’re incredibly feature-rich. Instead, I want to touch on the five things that make ForeFlight paired with Stratus a smart move for any pilot, especially those who are still using paper charts.

Let’s get right down to it.

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How many AMUs did you spend on your last piece of flying gear?

Flying isn’t cheap. There’s a reason pilots joke that $1,000 equals one AMU (Aviation Monetary Unit).

But pilot gear doesn’t have to be expensive to change the way you fly. One of my favorite cockpit tools is something that I only paid a measly $35 for. (That’s only 0.035 AMUs!)

I’m talking about the Flyboys Kneeboard.

Image from FlyBoys.com

I really love this kneeboard — in fact, I’ve helped sell a lot of them. It seems like every friend I fly with has picked one up after seeing how easy it is to juggle checklists, approach plates, and clearances with this thing.

(Postscript: The FlyBoys kneeboard can also take an attachment for the company’s equally awesome PIVOT Case iPad mount.)

The thing that sets this kneeboard apart is the fact that you can use rings to clip important documents to the top of it. I use it for checklists. When I don’t need the checklist, I can just flip it over my leg and out of the way of my note pad. When I do need it, I can get access to any page without fumbling around.

Three pens clip on the side of your leg, and charts have a see-through strap to keep them in place. A clipboard holds everything else where you want it. And there’s room for small extras in a couple of pockets.

It’s a simple solution to cockpit organization.

So simple, in fact, that I don’t need to spend any more time writing about it…

I’m a pretty big fan of anything that makes it easier to get information in front of me in the airplane. That’s a big reason why I’m such a big fan of the FlyBoys kneeboard.

So, when I saw one of my favorite YouTube pilots, Flight Chops, using a PIVOT Case, I was intrigued. And when I discovered that it was made by the same guys who made the FlyBoys kneeboard — and that it was compatible with my kneeboard — I wanted one.

For a while, I’ve been trying to figure out a new way to get organized in the cockpit.

While my iPad setup worked fine, it was bulky to lug around and it didn’t work quite right in other airplanes — like the interestingly-shaped yoke in the Socata Trinidad that I was doing my commercial and CFI work in. That’s a big part of what made the PIVOT Case look so interesting.

The PIVOT Case uses an innovative locking mechanism to click into place in the airplane, which makes it easy to switch the iPad between being a piece of avionics in the plane and an all-purpose tablet at home.

And after flying with it for about 40 hours now, I’m happy to report that it’s one of the best cockpit gear upgrades I’ve made…

But it didn’t go quite like I’d planned.

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All Garmin’d out on this cross country from Sporty’s Pilot Shop

For years, Garmin’s line of watches have been a familiar sight on the golf course or at the running track. But how about in the cockpit?

Of course Garmin is no stranger to aircraft gadgetry. After all, I can’t think of a single new aircraft today that doesn’t come equipped with Garmin avionics.  So, how does the firm’s first aviation watch measure up? Read on to find out…

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