WOW! All this stuff can these make a real MESS!!!!  Over the First 3-4 NAVs I tried all sorts of ways to organize maps etc in the cockpit WELL let me tell you,I have personally found this a massive challenge.  The organization of the maps, flight plan/fuel log and airfield info, ERSA, rulers and Whiz wheel is enough to send the sanest person insane!! 

Well the Whiz Wheel was the easy part, get a smaller one..ha ha.  I usually use a Jeppesen Slide Whiz Wheel to do my pre-flight planning (I personally find them easier to use for wind/heading variation) BUT even with the slide left out the Calculator wheel itself is still quite big to store and use in flight, SO, I also bought a Jeppesen CR2 which is just the calculator wheel itself and no big slide, these are great in flight as they are small and light and are ‘supposed’ to fit in your pocket….. ummm tee shirts don’t have a pocket, and, most of my casual shirts don’t either OR the pocket is just that little bit too small.  BUT the CR2 is great for quick cals on the hop so this is what I use in flight now and I found a convenient place for it in the 172SP’s …. the floor console.

My first folder, on NAV 1, was a disaster, too big!!!!  It was one of those Fiber boards with the BIG metal clip.  I couldn’t unclip anything if I needed to and it was a bit too wide and was always in the way.  Next, NAV 2, I had no folder and the maps where bulldog clipped together, this worked OK until I had to change maps…oh well...next idea please.  For NAV 3, I took some ideas from Lee, my instructor for NAV 2. So this version was an A5 size ring binder to hold airport info, with a reduced number bulldog clips holding my maps. Mal, my instructor for NAV 3, said he thought this organisation might have worked alright but I was quickly proven wrong, OH DEAR.  It was better than previously, but still a little clumsy. Then on NAV 4 brief, Kelly, yet another instructor, came to the rescue with some ideas on the way she has her cockpit organized.  NAV4 saw me have an A4 pvc clip folder turned inside out, with VTC chart inside the clear plastic sleeve part and folded to show the local areas CTR areas etc.  Then on the clip side my flight plan/fuel log and in side the extra maps I need for the flight all in all much more compact than my first few attempts!!!  I had a different small A5 clipboard in the floor console with the Airport information on it, and this all seemed to work really well. Only time and a bit more experience will tell, or NAV 5!!!

Maps, now these things are HUGE!!!  On my first NAV I didn’t have too much trouble, because the route was quite short. But NAV 2 went across two maps, THAT was difficult, with my million bulldog clips. So now I have those two maps joined to make one MASSIVE map, so no changing maps and that’s where the map origami comes in. Map origami is the art of marking the route, folding the map so it is compact(ish) and still usable and readable and it is a new art form!!!! This new map system worked (to a point) on NAV 3, and was no problem on NAV 4 where the route did not extend over the join, so no real test for the system.  BUT NAV 5 goes over the join so we will see how the system works under pressure. Then NAV 7 will be the real teller as that is a flight to Goondiwindi and is nearly right to the edge of the WAC map.

My tips for getting started on your GFPT

Congratualtions if you are considering starting your journey as a pilot!!! I am having great fun and loving every minute. I have had many e-mails from people thinking about getting started and I thought that I would summarise some of the tips I have been sharing. I am happy to expand on any of these, so if you are interested just drop me an e-mail. If you are thinking about learning to fly, go for it!!!!  It is one of the most rewarding things you can do.

Study Time
By my calculations, I do around 2- 3 hours study for each 1 hour flying. Getting started at GFPT level, pick up your Student Pilot Training Kit , a collection of three books, The Flying Training Manual, Basic Aeronautical Knowledge (BAK) and Flight Radio For Pilots. My kit was available at my training school. Additional reading for me comes from a number of great rescources available to me through the website of my club. The club also lists the chapters that you need to be familiar with for each lesson, so you always know where you need to be in your reading.
Exams
You are looking at 4 exams accross the GFPT part of your training. There are 3 written exams along the way before the BAK, they are Pre-solo, Radio, Pre-area Solo. These 3 are kind of easy ones so get them out of the way as soon as you think you are able, this way you don’t get to your solo standards and end up having to wait another week to do your solo because you haven’t done the exam!!  Same with the BAK, Redcliffe put a practice BAK up on the training site (hopefully others do this) once you happy and you have spoken to your instructors about sitting it, DO IT, get it out of the way too.
CASA
A lesson from the “inconvenienced”!!! In my diary I actually write about how long the process took - so long in fact that I was ready to SOLO and couldn't because all of the paperwork wasn't signed off by CASA!! if you decide to go for it, make sure you get your medical form a DAME early, and your CASA license and ASIC forms signed off with the CFI and sent. I'd reccommend that you do this within the first two weeks of training, CASA and the Feds take SSSSOOOOOOooooo long to process these forms and you don’t want it to hinder your first solo. I started ringing them at week 4 after sending them off!!!  Lucky I did, they sat on them for a week and then were going to send them back to me, because the CFI and I had filled out the final figure incorrectly. Instead of ringing me, and getting approval, they were just going to send it back…PHEW!!!  So just my advice from what happened to me (AND it’s not an isolated incident), when you get your SPL (Student Pilots Licence) then you should chase CASA for the medical, they do not send them back together!  And you do need your medical in your hand before you can Solo. Don’t let this put you off, but if you take this potential for delay into account in advance you can overcome any inconvenience leading up to your first solo.
Other things to buy
>Consider a headset. Once you know that flying is for you, then consider your own headset. Headsets will certainly be available to you through your training club but generally speaking, a set you buy will be newer (d'oh!!) and you will know where it has been!! I even bought DG one. Well, I had to, I came home one day and told her about the headset bag that was drying on a tree near the club after an unfortunate passenger..... well you can guess!!! Seriously though, headsets are not an inexpensive item, but you don't have to buy airline quality and reasonably priced sets these days have inputs for your mobile phone (and iPod!!).
> Whiz Wheel. Funny story here!!! I had this great whiz wheel circa 1950 (a Dead Reckoning Computer Mk.4a, reference 6b/2645, to be exact). Highly collectable, Wow!!! But, things change, and my whiz wheel is out of date, well it doesn;t have a few of the functions (calculations) the new ones have. Obvious now I suppose, but I hadn't clicked that this would be the case until my calculations were just a little off when compared with the instructor's!!! So off to the counter at the club and purchase a whiz wheel!! There's a great site called Warbirdsite.com that has a Virtual Museum for Navigation Instruments amongst other collections, and features the exact same whiz wheel if you are interested in aviation collectables.
> Maps. As you go along, you will start to get a collection of maps. The first will probably be the map of your training area. Not expensive, and you will no doubt get it from your club.