Nesting

There is this process in which pilots move into or out of an airplane with their personal belongings. The frequency depends on the pilot and the nature of the flying. Aircraft owners for example are not typically nesters in a sense as they may only nest a few times in a life time. Flight crews for example are frequent nesters, nesting into and out of several aircraft in a week. To me, it seemed that the thoroughness to which I nested into an aircraft has depended largely on what point I’m at in my flying career.

As a student pilot I was, like most student pilots, too naïve to understand the complexities of nesting. At that time all I ever needed was my logbook. It contained my student pilot license/medical certificate taped conveniently on the inside cover. The log book itself contained the various endorsements and authorizations from my instructor on the pages contained therein. Occasionally, when circumstances dictated, you would find the sectional chart that depicted the vast area of New South Montucky jammed inside the cover as well. The aircraft at the flight school where I learned to fly had headsets in them. As a result there was never any need to own a headset. Nesting into the training aircraft consisted of tossing my log book and its contents on the right seat.

As I entered University, it quickly became apparent that nesting would take on a whole new shape. I actually had to purchase my own headset, flight bag, course materials, flight syllabus, student copies of the aircraft flight manual, standard operating procedures, and standardization manual. Let’s not forget the 45 miles of checklists, new sectional charts, pens, pencils, calculator, plotters and my good friend the E6B. I never knew that pilots had to own so much junk. Flying was nothing like this back home.

Nesting at University consisted of lugging this gynormous flight bag plane side, and carefully and methodically placing the contents of the bag into the aircraft. First up was the headset. Necessary for communication (apparently), it was plugged into the aircraft intercom, the cords where arranged so that upon entering the aircraft you didn’t hang yourself, and the headset was placed on the glare shield or hung on the control column. The sectional charts were next, arranged and folded to depict the days current practice area and neatly stowed between the wall and the seat. The lesson plan for today and the aircraft checklist were removed and placed on your knee board for easy access and reference during flight. This was stowed under the seat and put on shortly after the cabin door was closed. The rest of the requisite materials remained in the flight bag until they were needed. Otherwise, the flight bag was placed in the center of the back seat and strapped in order to reach it during flight. Seems like something was always needed out of it at some point during the lesson. The heavy winter jacket and winter weather gear were stowed on the back seat in the vicinity of the flight bag. The aircraft keys were removed from the dispatch binder and placed on the glare shield and the binder put into the flight bag on the back seat. I was now properly nested to begin my lesson. All of these items were collected and placed back into the flight bag at the conclusion of the lesson.

Upon Graduation from University I went to work as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI) in the Deep South. Nesting again took on a new look. This time, I was able to nest into my own office complete with a desk and file cabinets. Nesting into the aircraft was up to the student. The nesting materials of a CFI consisted of my headset, instructor copy of the flight syllabus, and if needed, a view limiting device. Most of the time I could even get away with leaving my belongings in the aircraft between lessons because I scheduled my lessons back to back in the same aircraft.

When I took the job in Big Town flying the Ambulance, nesting got easier. All I needed was my headset and the aircraft coffee pot. No office. No desk. Everything was kept in the aircraft save for the said coffee pot and the charts for the East Coast.

As I have begun to settle into the new job flying the SUV for Royal Air, it has become apparent that the flight bag and all the toys inside would become a necessity again. I don’t fly the same plane every day, my routes change, and I have come to expect the occasional charter. So now I have gone back somewhat to the days of University lugging around a bag full of headsets, pens, pencils, Jepp binders, The Good Book, company ops manual and a self issued Nalgene bottle. I take the time daily to take the required materials out of the flight bag and place them in the cockpit.

Nesting in and out of the various company SUV’s has become a fine tuned process. A process that can be completed in just a few minutes on a good day or less in the event of a sudden and last minute aircraft change.

I’m sure that other pilots have nesting routines similar to mine that they go through on a daily basis. My nesting routine, no doubt will continue to evolve and develop with my current job and my career. It might be fun to watch.

So, my friends, how do you nest?