In the meantime its been snowing quite heavily, so we're grounded anyways until the weather clears. Apart from the occasional medevac flight that comes and goes, the airport here is pretty dead. There is a lone hangar with no door that houses a small number of private ultralights, and I've convinced the airport manager to let us tuck the airplane into that as best as we can. The tail section of the airplane is sticking outside of the hangar, but we have the wings under a roof and out of the snow for the most part. It'll saves a lot of brushing/scraping snow and ice and it also means we won't need to put the wing covers on, which are annoying at best to put on and remove due to the wing pods and STOL kit (short take-off and landing).
Back in Markham I purchased a knee-board (a foldable pouch with pockets and a clipboard which straps to your leg), which I am quite happy with after having a few flights to try it out. Until now I've never flown with one. The Twin Comanche and Cherokee 6 aircraft I used to fly had room to stick my flight back in between the front seats so I had access and a place to store everything I needed for the flight right beside me. The Cessna 206 does not have the room between the seats so I've been stuck stowing my flight bag behind the pilot seat, which makes it difficult to retrieve maps and notebooks from it during flight. Until now I've just resorted to placing my maps, notebooks, and checklist on the floor in between the seats, but that has been disorganized at the best of times. In addition to those things, the engine will be going to an On-condition maintenance program soon which means I now have to fill out trend-monitoring forms during flight which record and track engine gauge readings such as oil temp, oil pressure, cylinder head temperature, exhaust gas temperature, and a number of other things to track subtle changes in engine performance. This extra piece of paper in the cockpit has finally caused me to surpass the threshold of the number of pieces of paper I can keep track of in the cockpit without an easy to access pocket.
Enter the kneeboard. I love it actually. Its a tri-fold design and carries everything I need for the flight in a handy little kit that's strapped to my knee. Its like a mini flight bag. I made up paper sheets that fit on the clipboard to record flight times, crucial flight plan information, weather, fuel log, and all the trend monitoring parameters. I also re-wrote the aircraft checklist, formatted it and had it laminated in a size that will clip to one side of the fold out flaps of the kneeboard (thanks to my oodles of free time down south waiting for the airplane in maintenance). And there's also room in another pouch to hold my map. I am proud to say that I now have every piece of information and form I need for the flight at my fingertips and I don't have to feel around on the cockpit floor for the map or piece of paper that has slid out of reach.
If I had a choice I would still prefer to keep everything in my flight bag beside me in between the seats, because I would rather not have something strapped to my lap, but the kneeboard is a close second alternative, and far superior to having to reach behind me or grope for things on the floor.
Tomorrow despite the forecast being as bleak as it was today, I remain hopeful that we'll get to go flying.
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