Here’s a collection of odd (but useful!) items, that didn’t quite fit into another section:

Sunglasses

A bit subjective, but I went with the (traditional!) Ray Ban aviators. I also own a pair of the Ray Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. There are a lot of ‘Pilot’ branded sunglasses. Truthfully, you just need something that will protect your eyes from glare – I’ve had it a few times when coming in to land on Runway 27 with the sunset straight down the runway, making reading the ASI hard on finals without them!

The important thing here is to make sure they fit well, offer good glare protection, do not interfere with your headset, and are not polarized as this can distort the colours on Cockpit displays (such as the Garmin GPS). A protection case and cleaning cloth can also be handy – I stow mine in my Bose A30 headset bag.

Checklists

It’s worth checking with your flight school for this one – make sure you get the correct aircraft type. A lot of schools produce their own.

Some schools (such as mine) are more flows based, similar to the Airline Cockpit flows, therefore a lot of the checklist will be committed as memory items and recalled as required. However, we still cross-check with checklist in the aircraft, and some emergency items (that don’t occur often, and to ensure vital steps are not skipped when under extreme pressurue) are checklist items.

Uniden Radio (UBC125XLT)

I bought my radio for about £150, and it’s great for practicing RT. I can tune into the ATIS and also listen at my local airports (Liverpool/Manchester) for fun and pick up on the common phrases ATC/Captains say.

I bought mine from Radioworld UK and you can pay a bit extra for them to tune it for you, to all the frequencies within your region (both Civil and Military). You can also pay a little extra for a better quality, longer aerial which has better reception.

Just to note: If you live some distance from an airport, it probably won’t work well (as VFR uses line-of-sight principle!). And definitely not in your house.

Anti-Sickness Pills

Great to combat flying/motion sickness, especially if you’re new to flying and haven’t developed the stomach for it yet (it does get easier with time!). I haven’t actually thrown up yet (touch wood!), so there is also some psychological element to it.

For me I bought Organic Ginger Gummies, Sea-band Nausea Relief, and Ginger Rhizome 500mg (all available from Amazon). I also purchased the motion sickness bracelets, although I’ve heard they’re a bit of a red herring. I tried to only go for the natural remedies (Ginger) as I didn’t want my body to become dependant upon non-natural chemicals – Plus, you need to feel a little unwell in order to build up a tolerance.

Also, I’d recommend setting the Cockpit fan to cold air and blowing it in your face, especially on a hot day! Keep a look out to the horizon, especially as you are training under VFR so should be keeping an aircraft scan pattern going anyway! Carry a sick bag in your pocket if it reassures you. Don’t rapidly turn your head or fixate on the Cockpit instruments, and if you ever do start to feel unwell, tell your instructor as soon as possible so you can cancel the exercise, fly gently and go back to base (there’s no shame in it!).