Originally Posted by
Bob Dingley
I was given my first kneeboard in flight school and obediently used it. Fast fwd a few years and over in SE Asia, every one carried china markers and made notes on the windshield. In case of capture, you could kick out the windshield and destroy all those classified freqs and coords. Crew chiefs hated this practice.
Later, on stateside missions and in GA aircraft, I got a supply of those SS bankers clips from the office supply store and clipped charts,etc to the log book and tossed it up on the glare shield. It was a handy writing desk. I continued this in commercial aviation and in my GA planes. I clipped to the POH. When paper work got heavier with Customs stuff and manifests, my fellow pilots showed up with clipboards that they got at truck stops. The kind that open up and you can store all your paper, etc that you pick up during the day.
When moving maps showed up, I realized that I had been flying a long time as lost as last year's Easter egg. I then kept my charts in the flight bag (with Jepp plates clipped with it and rarely took them out.
I eventually got one of those Sporty's Tri-folds and even used it some. Mostly on check rides. I still have one of those old time kneeboards with built in lamp. Battery holder all chewed up. The BEST solution is one of those fold away chart holders that bolt on the side of the cockpit The light is powered by the A/C 28V. I have an unlighted one out in my shop as we speak waiting for an airframe to put it in.